1969
Directed by Ken Loach
This is the last film from the 1960s!!! It has really been a rocky send off, but I suppose that makes it easier to say goodbye to this decade.
Is there ever a film about British school children that isn't horrifying? I hope frequent commentator, Ray, did not have it so bad. This is the story of Billy Casper, who is bullied by pretty much everyone, He finds solace in training a falcon, which, in a not so subtle metaphor, represent the wings he desires to fly away with.
So here is a film that I think a lot of people will find emotional, but I found to be a bit lacking. For one thing, the movie was very predictable. Maybe this isn't the film's fault, since the movie has probably been copied so many times, but it still made the experience significantly less enjoyable. For another thing, I am not a huge fan of films starring kids and this kid is about as whiny as they come.
Overall, one that I would have happily skipped.
RATING: **---
Interesting Facts:
Some of the children were actually beaten by the actor who played the headmaster. They were all paid a bonus of 50 pence. Um...
The Yorkshire accents in this film make it somewhat difficult to understand for both British and American audiences. Parts of the movie were dubbed because of this.
Sorry Amanda.. I somehow missed spotting this..
ReplyDeleteBut school everywhere is unmitigated hell isn't it? I mean.. schools are full of hundreds of kids, so it's bound to be a nightmare..And even worse in films,
Looking the other way across the Atlantic .. American schools are also awful - all ruled by either seriously stupid sports elite or a frankly sadistic psychotic fashion / status queen bees. Any one slightly intelligent is shown as an utter looser nerd either fat, and bullied.. or skinny, spectacle wearing.. and bullied. .
On the Brit school scale.. taking the 'Kes' school as a '1', and the 'If' school as a 10.. my school life was about.. 2, - maybe 2 1/2 .. and Yorkshire is the next door county to Derbyshire where I was brought up. So I should identify more with this one.. except that, as the weedy speccy kid, our lead boy - who is VERY recognisable spent any of his spare time kicking the **** out of me.. So I'm not going to get that sympathetic.
Sorry .. I'm getting into 'far too much information' territory here.
I'm going to stop now, have a quick word with my therapist, and come back later and actually talk about the film
I too had a dark moment remembering how sucky school was. Let' just skip over this one!
DeleteIt is a hillarious note that the accent is so thick it had to be subtitled. Cannot explain why, but it made me giggle.
ReplyDeleteThere is something massively exagerated about this movie that it loses a lot of credibility, like the sports teacher or the principal.