KES : Childhood in Loneliness
Childhood in Loneliness or Loneliness in Childhood. Do both these mean the same? It’s a question worth asking and never answering. Often in retrospect, the emotions of childhood seem silly yet the scars hound us until we die. Loss is an emotion most of us experience first in our childhood, no matter the loneliness. Billy Casper learns about loss through Kes.
We all have had companionship in our childhood. Some friends lasted, some parted ways, some we pushed away, some died. The friendship of Billy Casper and Kes is one where no words are said, no fights are fought. They just are friends. If I dare say, more than friends. Who found whom doesn’t matter. They being in each other’s companionship matter. Billy cares for Kes. Kes brings him happiness. Isn’t that recreation of heaven itself? Yet, all things worth having must come to an end. And so does this friendship. Kes had to die. There was no other way. Billy had to live. There was no other way.
Ken Loach has been one of my favorite auteurs. His Art is as real as it gets. Kes, the movie made in 1969, in purely regional yet with emotions beyond universal. Every child in his pre-teens must watch Kes. Every parent when their children are about to enter teens, must watch Kes. Children with their parents must watch Kes. Ken Loach, creates a world of loneliness veiled in cruelty. He creates the world as the world is. Harsh, tough, unforgiving, callous, and yet merciful. Only, mercy is to be found within oneself.
Let’s talk about what creates this void in our childhood that we define with loneliness. Our family? Our friends? Our school? Our environment? Or our circumstances? In case of Billy all these factors create void. From the first scene Ken Loach makes us feel Billy’s world. Engaging the audience in the world of his characters is easy. Making the audience feel the heart of the character is what makes a great Artist. The dialect of the characters in the movie isn’t of much help either. I never needed the dialogues in the first place. All is said and done in the movement, in the posture, in the actions of Billy. At one stage of the movie, I even envied Billy. I wasn’t as brave as him in my childhood. I wasn’t as warm and gentle in my childhood. I never had a Kes in my childhood.
If you are still wondering who is Kes… Kes is a kestrel whom Billy finds while dealing with his obscure and bleak childhood in loneliness. He starts to train Kes. Kes gives meaning to Billy’s life. And there is no meaning if you never have to fight for the meaning. Meaning is in essence and not in ownership. A child who himself has never been loved, loves his kestrel. Seems odd? A kestrel who is injured and lost in a barren yet beautiful landscape starts to learn from Billy. Seems odd? Nothing is odd. The only way to fly again is to care for each other. Isn’t that all there is to love? Perhaps not. Perhaps love is more than caring, perhaps love is letting the love ago. Kes’s death shatters Billy. Nothing in his life so far has been permanent. Nothing in his life has provided him with any respite. His bond with Kes makes him believe that some relations indeed can be permanent. Billy is a kid with lost innocence and very well knows that Kes won’t be with him forever. He knows how the story will end. He knows that Kes will depart eventually one he learns how to fly under Billy’s training. Yet there is a permanence in their temporary.
The sole focus of all Art is to make us feel. Kes, makes us feel. It drew me back into my childhood and the loss I suffered. It made me ask myself what I did to cope with that loss. What will Billy do to cope with his loss. This movie is a love story. A love story of possession yet there is a certain affection in Billy’s possessiveness. Kes never chose Billy. It was Billy who chose Kes. But Billy himself didn’t choose Kes because of a reason. He just did because he need companionship. Billy is a dotting kid yet he is labelled as an outcast. He can’t form relationships like we all do merely because he doesn’t lead a life like we all do. The film reminds me of all the things I did only to amuse myself. To not get bored. To simply have someone’s attention. People who in their childhood had pets may identify more with Billy’s bond with Kes. I never had a pet in my childhood. I identified with Billy’s loneliness and his loss.
I probably have used the words loss and loneliness way too many times already, but this is what the story is about. About the unforgiving circle that this life is. At one moment you shall be beaten like pulp, in another you shall find companionship which may change into love. And eventually that love will be taken away sooner or later. What do you do then? Having experienced that companionship and that love, do you become hopeful that if it happened once, it may happen again even if only it ahs a slim chance… or you simply close your doors towards the world after that loss, since you know now of the vicious circle of life. I ask myself again as I type. How would have Billy’s life turned out in the end? I can’t help but imagine that he would have embraced the tragedy of life and would have lived a life worthy of his bond with Kes. I can’t help. I can’t think of Billy being distraught in the longer run due to loss of Kes. Life is as long as it seems short. In his life, would he have found another Kes? Would he have found a loving woman who would have filled the void created by Kes’s loss with more love? Or was Billy, by the virtue of his childhood was bound to lead a life full of misery? These questions have no answer. But I imagine Billy as my friend. I imagine myself consoling Billy in times when life shall again throw him on his face.
Is it pity that we feel towards Billly? Or is it empathy that we feel towards Billy? Or is it neither? What is that bond which binds us with Billy? Or is it that since we know how he forms a bond with Kes, we feel comfortable in his companionship? If he can love Kes, if we are nice to Billy, he would surely love us back. It is this idea that makes us feel Billy’s friendship.
There is not much I have to say about Ken Loach here, if an Artist’s Art can move one so much then is something to be learnt from it in terms of creating Art. Ken keeps the script simple and subtle yet the emotions complex and profound. The reason I want to offer my hand for friendship to Billy is a testament to Ken Loach’s authority as an artist. It’s one of those movies that makes you want to tell stories. It’s one of those stories that makes you want to make movies.
