Bullied at school and ignored and abused at home by his indifferent mother and older brother, Billy Casper (David Bradley), a 15-year-old working-class Yorkshire boy, tames and trains his pet kestrel falcon whom he names Kes. Helped and encouraged by his English teacher Mr. Farthing (Colin Welland) and his fellow students, Billy finally finds a positive purpose to his unhappy existence, until tragedy strikes.
They beat him. They deprived him. They ridiculed him. They broke his heart. But they couldn’t break his spirit.
A Kestrel for a Knave
Ken Loach
David Bradley, Freddie Fletcher, Lynne Perrie, Colin Welland, Brian Glover,
UK