Institut für Anglistik/Amerikanistik

Universität Rostock

WS 2003 / 2004

Kes

Martin Setzkorn

List of contents

List of contents 2

1. Introduction 3

2. Background information 3

2.1. Summary of the film 3

2.2. Some characteristics of films produced by Ken Loach 3

2.3. Short biography of Barry Hines 4

2.4. General setting 4

3. General situation in the movie 5

3.1. The class situation in the film/shown classes 5

3.2. Mobility between classes/social mobility 5

3.3. Characterisation of the working-class in the late 60s 6

4. Billy and his environment 7

4.1. Picture of Billy presented in the film 7

4.2. Living conditions 7

4.3 Relationship between Billy and his brother 7

4.4. School 8

Appendix 10

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1. Introduction

In this paper I take a closer look at the movie

Kes

produced by Ken Loach.

The movie is based on the book

A Kestrel for a Knave

which was written by Barry Hines. It is

a pretty interesting story and by watching the movie the viewer automatically compares his

own life and school experiences with Billys experiences.

In the first part of this work I give a short introduction about the background and the situation

in which the movie takes place.

In the second part I take a closer look at Billys daily life, his future options and his

relationship to his brother.

2. Background information
2.1. Summary of the film

In the centre of the movie is a young boy named Billy. He has some difficulties not only in

school also in his life. He uses all his abilities to take care of a young kestrel. He is very

interested in kestrels and tries to inform himself about this topic. Billy is not only raising up

this kestrel but also trains him.

Close to the end his older brother Jud kills the bird in a fit of rage.

During the movie we get some impressions of the conventional school system, the boring life

in a working class settlement and the desperate future situation in the Nord English settlement

where mostly everybody is employed in a coal mine.(Frey, 1996)

2.2. Some characteristics of films produced by Ken Loach

Ken Loach normally has a documentary stile. He tries to make a movie as realistic as possible

by using laymen as actors and letting the setting take place on the original background

described in the book.

In the film Kes the characteristics and the style of Loach are clearly shown. He is using the

real environment, the natural light and like in a documentary or realistic film the view is

mostly on the protagonist. (Frey, 1996)

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