The story follows Billy Casper, a teenager in a lower-class family in an English mining town. Billy lives with his single mother and older brother, who works in the mines. There is a crushing bleakness to Billy's life: he is made fun of at school, forced to sleep with his brother in a narrow bed, mostly ignored by his mother, browbeaten by teachers who verge on the sadistic, and dominated by his brother.
One day while walking in the country Billy spots a kestrel's nest and is fascinated by it to the point of poaching one of the young chicks (maybe he was attracted to the sense of freedom the birds had that he so sadly lacked?). He goes to the local library and steals a book on falconry which he uses to train the bird--one of the interesting aspects of the movie is in following the steps in that training process. The bird deserves high billing for his performance as well as director Loach, since I am sure that filming the scenes with the bird required many takes. The scenes with Billy and the bird are nicely filmed and are a bright spot in the drabness.
The highlight of the film comes, interestingly enough, in Billy's English class where the teacher is pressing him to tell something about his life. After much reluctance and shrugging of shoulders Billy gets up and tells about his experiences with the kestrel. His account is so sincere and heartfelt that the students were transfixed, as was I. A truly wonderful scene. The teacher is so impressed with the story that he comes out to watch Billy and the bird in action. This teacher is the only person in the movie who treats Billy with any fondness or respect.
In spite of Billy's rather dreary existence there is a certain resilience to the lad which is captured beautifully by the novice actor David Bradley. Billy doesn't know what he wants to do when he leaves school, but he is dead set against going down in the mines. But the movie ends on a note that makes you feel that Billy has been so trapped by circumstance that the mines are where he is likely headed.
Not being a Brit I found the English subtitles on the DVD helpful.
This movie is a total refutation to those who say that if you do not succeed in life, it's your own fault. It supports the statistic that the best predictor of someone's success is the success of his or her parents.
One day while walking in the country Billy spots a kestrel's nest and is fascinated by it to the point of poaching one of the young chicks (maybe he was attracted to the sense of freedom the birds had that he so sadly lacked?). He goes to the local library and steals a book on falconry which he uses to train the bird--one of the interesting aspects of the movie is in following the steps in that training process. The bird deserves high billing for his performance as well as director Loach, since I am sure that filming the scenes with the bird required many takes. The scenes with Billy and the bird are nicely filmed and are a bright spot in the drabness.
The highlight of the film comes, interestingly enough, in Billy's English class where the teacher is pressing him to tell something about his life. After much reluctance and shrugging of shoulders Billy gets up and tells about his experiences with the kestrel. His account is so sincere and heartfelt that the students were transfixed, as was I. A truly wonderful scene. The teacher is so impressed with the story that he comes out to watch Billy and the bird in action. This teacher is the only person in the movie who treats Billy with any fondness or respect.
In spite of Billy's rather dreary existence there is a certain resilience to the lad which is captured beautifully by the novice actor David Bradley. Billy doesn't know what he wants to do when he leaves school, but he is dead set against going down in the mines. But the movie ends on a note that makes you feel that Billy has been so trapped by circumstance that the mines are where he is likely headed.
Not being a Brit I found the English subtitles on the DVD helpful.
This movie is a total refutation to those who say that if you do not succeed in life, it's your own fault. It supports the statistic that the best predictor of someone's success is the success of his or her parents.