We love a British film, even more so if it’s filmed in Yorkshire. Over the years there have been some fantastic homegrown films and some of those have featured in Time Out’s list of the best British films, one of which has snook into the bronze position coming in fourth place. But, what film could it be? Pretty easy to guess if you ask us.
And, it is Kes. It won’t come as a surprise to many that Barry Hines’s novel which was transformed into a film by the brilliant Ken Loach has become a British masterpiece that tells an important and powerful story. The Yorkshire classic was beaten to the top spot by Don’t Look Now, The Third Man and Distant Voices, Still Lives, which came first, second and third. We wouldn’t like to be the ones to narrow down British films to 100 of the best, but we won’t argue with Kes being in the top five that’s for sure.
Kes tells the story of Billy Casper, a teenage boy who lives in a small terraced house in Barnsley with his mother and half-brother, Judd. Billy’s life is depicted as one of hopelessness and boredom. His world is turbulent and often abusive home life and boring and mischievous school life. An unlikely symbol of hope enters Billy’s life in the form of a kestrel, which he names Kes.
Kes gives Billy a purpose, interest and some ambition in life. He learns how to train Kes and cares for the bird dearly. The film ends with Billy having lost the one hope in his life and left with nothing apart from a bleak future with little education few job prospects and life ambitions.
Writing about Kes Time Out said: “As the tide of the 1960s began to recede, taking with it all that class-obsessed ee-by-’eck pub-jazz new wave chest-beating that had threatened to drag British cinema into some kind of socialist-modernist-industrial nightmare, the real realists were revealed, sitting quietly and waiting for someone to notice. And chief among them was (and still is) Ken Loach, this country’s most relentless cinematic artisan, 47 years at the cultural coalface and still no sign of flagging.”
Cotinuing” “‘Kes’ is, if nothing else, a powerfully honest piece of work, in its performances and relationships, its treatment of trapped lives, its sad-eyed acceptance of human failings. It’s trite but true to say that Billy Casper stands for the crushed child in all of us, with his beloved kestrel as the soaring soul that school, work, family and society conspire to kill quietly in the woodshed.”
Finishing with “And so ‘Kes’ remains devastating, the peak of British realism and one of the most heartbreaking works in all of cinema.”
Other notable Yorkshire films featuring in the top 100 include: God’s Own Country in 85th place, in 88th This Is England and in 99th place, the children’s classic The Railway Children. Check out the full list of Time Out’s 100 best British movies here.
Read More: The First-Ever Film Was Shot In This City In Yorkshire
Feature Image Credit: Woodfall Film Productions
