Kes (film)
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Kes |
| Original title | Kes |
| Country of production | United Kingdom |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1969 |
| length | 106 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Ken Loach |
| script | Ken Loach, Barry Hines , Tony Garnett |
| production | Tony Garnett |
| music | John Cameron |
| camera | Chris Menges |
| cut | Roy Watts |
| occupation | |
| |
Kes is a socially critical film drama from 1969 , which is based on the youth book And caught a falcon ( English A Kestrel for a Knave ) by Barry Hines . It is the second feature film by British film director Ken Loach . The film was voted number 7 of the best British films of the 20th century by the British Film Institute in 1999 and is considered a classic.
action
15-year-old Billy Casper grew up in poor circumstances in the working-class town of Barnsley in the north of England . Billy's single mother is overwhelmed by the situation, his older brother Jud terrorizes him regularly. At school he is considered an outsider by his classmates and is annoyed, which his sports teacher tolerates and even supports. The daydreamer cannot cope with the strict regime of the school, he only has bad grades. Billy's greatest fear is that like Jud and most of the other men from Barnsley he will eventually have to work as a miner, a dreary and poorly paid job. His bleak life changes when he finds a little hawk and raises it. He spends several hours with him every day and finds a friend in the bird of prey. Billy's environment is not interested in the falcon, however.
The friendly English teacher Mr. Farthing becomes aware of Billy after he, encouraged by him, has given a lecture in the class about raising "Kes". Farthing is also the only one who regards Kes with respect rather than a “toy” from Billy. One day, Billy is sent to horse-racing by his terrorizing brother. Billy, however, uses the money to buy something to eat for himself and his hawk, which means that he deprives his brother of a large bet. This then kills Kes. Finally, the angry Billy gets the falcon out of the garbage can and gives him a proper grave.
background
Kes is based on the novel A Kestrel for a Knave (1968) by Barnsley-based author Barry Hines . Shortly after the book was published, Disney became interested in a film adaptation of the book, provided that the falcon would end up living - whereupon Hines declined the Disney offer, believing it would have destroyed the integrity of his book. Finally, the young director Ken Loach got the film rights, for which it was only his second feature film. The film's budget was relatively small at £ 157,000. Loach worked on the script together with writer Hines and producer Tony Garnett . Ken Loach later made three more films, which are also based on the works of Hines.
Ken Loach - as an avowed socialist controversial at the time, to this day he mainly shoots social dramas - paints a gloomy picture of the social conditions in the working-class districts of northern England . Unemployment and hopelessness shape the society of this time. Kes has a very documentary character, which also arises from the fact that all roles (except for Colin Welland as Mr. Farthing) are cast by amateur actors who speak the regional Yorkshire dialect. For example, the headmaster in the film, Bob Bowes, was actually headmaster of a nearby school. Due to the success of Kes , some of the amateur actors were able to pursue long acting careers. The film was also shot exclusively in the Yorkshire area during the summer of 1968, which is also where the film store is located. Because of its authentic staging, the film was also well received by audiences in the affected region.
Leading actor David Bradley , who came from a working-class family, won the lead role in a casting of hundreds of high school students in his area, even though he had never acted before. During the shoot, Bradley spent a lot of time with and fell in love with the two kestrels used in the film. While filming the final scenes, Loach told him that they should have killed one of the falcons as no falcon had been found that died of natural causes. Bradley then cried believing that one of the hawks was dead - but they were both still alive and Loach hadn't told Bradley the truth to get the most natural emotion from him.
Dubbed version
The German dubbed version was created in 1971 on behalf of ARD .
| role | actor | German Voice actor |
|---|---|---|
| Billy Casper | David Bradley | Stefan Schwade |
| Mrs. Casper | Lynne Perrie | Eva-Maria Lahl |
| Jud Caspar | Freddie Fletcher | Tommi Piper |
| Teacher Mr. Farthing | Colin Welland | Joachim Hansen |
| Teacher Mr. Sudgen | Brian Glover | Thomas Bride |
| Student McDowell | Robert Naylor | Sascha Hehn |
reception
| source | rating |
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| Rotten tomatoes | |
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| audience |
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| IMDb |
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Kes saw its first performance in November 1969 at a London film festival, but the film had its national cinema premiere on April 3, 1970. In Great Britain the film was a hit with audiences and received positive reviews, after which it was also shown in numerous European countries came. In the USA, however, the film was a flop, for which Roger Ebert blamed the hard-to-understand Yorkshire accents of the leading actors. The film never came into cinemas in Germany, instead it premiered on March 5, 1972 in a television broadcast on ARD . To this day, the film has only received positive reviews. On the US film portal Rotten Tomatoes , all 29 reviews from professional film critics are positive for Kes . The film has an exceptionally high rating with 9.6 out of 10 stars.
"Psychologically sensitive and atmospherically dense socially critical film that accuses human selfishness and dullness."
“Director Ken Loach is considered to be one of the most important co-founders of the so-called British workers' film, which began its triumphal march in the cinemas in the sixties and seventies. As in his later films, Loach is an unsentimental partisan for the concerns of the workers, whose milieu he portrays precisely and realistically, of which 'Kes' is a concise example. The use of amateur actors also gives Loach's early directorial work its credibility and angry vitality. "
“Ken Loach's 1969 socially realistic tragedy looks brighter, more passionate than ever; a rich film of flesh and blood. Perhaps after 42 years it is time to restore the status of co-writer Barry Hines, who adapted his own novel for the film and gave Loach such a great story to work with. The layman David Bradley plays Billy Caspar, the boy with the unforgettably exhausted, sly, hungry face [...] The scene in which Colin Welland's kind teacher encourages him to talk about the hawk is still going strong. The crackling conversation between Lynne Perrie and Freddie Flechter as Billy's mother and brother is as funny as it is heartbreaking. […] Kes was a premonition to Billy Elliot , but with a darker worldview. A masterpiece."
“ To call Kes timeless, even as a form of praise, is not really correct. It's a film that plunges into a very specific era and a very specific place. Seen today, it still cries its authentic song of anger. It still cuts like a knife. The mines may have been harsh and dangerous, but they also provided income, wealth, the basis of a life. Now they are gone. But what did it replace? […] In Kes the resistance [against the disadvantages of capitalism] is expressed in many ways: in the lyrics of Chris Menges' camera pictures and John Cameron's wonderful film music. [...] But most, he is Billy himself [...], most importantly, that he still feel hurt can . Billy is as romantic as Truffaut's Antoine Doinel and such a lively and lively outsider in Northern England as Mark E. Smith , Morrissey or Jarvis Cocker . "
“But Kes is Loach at its peak. He shot it on the spot on a shoestring, using mostly local amateur actors for the lead roles. The film has a heartbreaking humanity. (Rating: four / four stars) "
Awards
The film won the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival in 1970 . In 1971 the actors Colin Welland and David Bradley were awarded the British Film Prize for their performance ; the film also received a nomination for the United Nations Award . The British Film Institute voted Kes 7th best British films of all time in 1999 .
Web links
- Kes in the Internet Movie Database (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ IMDb Trivia
- ↑ IMDb Trivia
- ↑ Article in the Guardian
- ↑ "Kes" in the synchronous database
- ↑ IMDb release
- ^ Review of the film by Roger Ebert
- ↑ IMDb release
- ^ "Kes" at Rotten Tomatoes
- ↑ Review of the film at two thousand and one
- ^ Review of the film at Prisma
- ^ Review of the film at the Guardian
- ^ Review of the film at the Daily Telegraph
- ^ Review of the film by Roger Ebert