Kes

Chandler mispronounces Kestral, Jacob rages against the system, and along the way we review Kes, Ken Loach’s 1969 film about a boy and his bird.

Split Take Cinema

Ep #38 - Kes

0:00 / 0:00

Download

This Episode

Kes (1969)

Named one of the ten best British films of the century by the British Film Institute, Ken Loach’s Kes, is cinema’s quintessential portrait of working-class Northern England. Billy is a fifteen-year-old miner’s son whose close bond with a wild kestrel provides him with a spiritual escape from his dead-end life. 

Dir. Ken Loach - 1h 51m - UK - PG-13

Show Notes

Kestrel Hawks

KES (1969)

The 400 Blows (1959)

I, Daniel Blake (2016)

The Wind that Shakes the Barley (2006)

Rainer Werner Fassbinder

Next Episode

Code Unknown (2000)

Composed almost entirely of brilliantly shot, single-take vignettes focusing on characters connected to one seemingly minor incident on a Paris street, Haneke’s film—with an outstanding international cast headlined by Juliette Binoche—is a revelatory examination of racial inequality and the failure of communication in an increasingly diverse modern landscape.

Dir. Michael Haneke - 1h 58m - France - Not Rated