Kes
“They beat him. They deprived him. They ridiculed him. They broke his heart. But they couldn’t break his spirit.”
Ken LoachCast
David Bradley Colin Welland Freddie Fletcher
Credits
Written by: Barry Hines
Plot
Billy Casper, a fifteen-year-old boy in a Yorkshire mining town, is bullied at school and neglected at home, where his older brother Jud mistreats him. When he finds a kestrel chick and trains it, he discovers something that belongs to him and gives him purpose. Ken Loach's 1969 film, with non-professional actors, is a tender and unsentimental portrait of working-class life and one of the best British films.
Sinekatalog’s take
Ken Loach's social-realist drama follows a Yorkshire boy who finds purpose training a kestrel. Honest and moving, it contrasts his bleak school and home life with the freedom of the bird.Sinekatalog’s own editorial review – not a user or critic quote.
Ratings
IMDb: 7.9 / 10 (26,772 votes)
IMDb rating and vote count from the IMDb ratings dataset (October 2026). Scores change over time.
If you liked this
Picked by director, genre, era and shared cast. Titles only, no spoilers.
- How Green Was My Valley 1941 · John Ford · IMDb 7.7 · Viewers also liked
- The Wind That Shakes the Barley 2006 · Ken Loach · IMDb 7.5 · Same director
- There Will Be Blood 2007 · Paul Thomas Anderson · IMDb 8.2 · Viewers also liked
- Neds 2010 · Peter Mullan · IMDb 6.9 · Viewers also liked
- Family Life 1971 · Ken Loach · IMDb 7.5 · Same director
- Rebel Without a Cause 1955 · Nicholas Ray · IMDb 7.6 · Viewers also liked