Bullied at school and ignored and abused at home by his indifferent mother and older brother, Billy Casper, a 15-year-old working-class Yorkshire boy, tames and trains his pet kestrel falcon whom he names Kes. Helped and encouraged by his English teacher and his fellow students, Billy finally finds a positive purpose to his unhappy existence.
Acting
David Bradley's raw, non-professional performance is devastating.
Direction
Loach's documentary-style realism makes fiction feel like stolen memory.
Cinematography
Bleak Yorkshire landscapes that crush and liberate simultaneously.
Director
Ken Loach
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Loach used local Yorkshire non-actors; Brian Glover was an actual PE teacher, not acting. The football scene's improvised cruelty is horrifyingly real.
The kestrel was played by multiple birds due to UK animal welfare laws—ironically, the film's production protected its animal star better than Billy's world protected him.
GB
