KES (1969) **1/2 It's more a piece of art than a movie, perhaps more of a portrait than anything else. It's incredibly well constructed, its artistic personality is chaotic and appealing, the acting is fantastic and John Cameron's music moving to an extent that creates discomfort. The problem is that I don't like it, it makes me feel bad. It makes me embarrassed to be part of the human race. I don't like feeling bad, I like to think the best about people. Kenneth Loach paints a picture of townie Northern England that feels as true as it is horrid. If David Bradley feels hopeless he has every reason to do so. You don't know what blessing to count first.that you're not David, not his brother, his mother, his teacher, any of his teachers. It's a downer, man, and it rings too true to shake off. My problem with it isn't that there isn't much of a plot, my problem beyond it is that so many lives lack much of a plot. I don't like to have my nose rubbed in it, I don't even like to look at it. I guess I don't always do what I can about it, either. Loach has done a service like a doctor who gives you medicine that makes you sicker, and can only hope will treat the disease. That bird's the only air fit to breathe in the whole damn town.
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