This is an old favourite film of mine. I always remember watching this when I was at home poorly from school. I was quite excited to buy it when I saw the DVD in HMV a few years ago.

The book is based on a working class family from Yorkshire. In rural Yorkshire at that time there weren't many job opportunities for children heading towards adulthood and most people ended up working down the pits. The family in the film has 3 characters, the mum (played by Lynne Perrie who was Ivy Tilsley in Coronation St) and her 2 sons Billy and Jud played by David Bradley and Freddie Fletcher. Billy is about 13 years old and is not very interested in school, more interested in mucking about and fooling around. One day he finds a kestrel (a bird) and forms a wonderful connection with this bird. He instantly becomes almost best friends with the bird and names him Kes. He takes brilliant care of Kes and spends all his free time and money on looking after him and it shows how sensitive a lad he really is and how responsible he can be.

Soon he begins to do better in school as a result of his close bond with Kes and it is so nice to see Billy coming out of his shell and turning into a man. Unfortunately he's never had a fantastic relationship with his older brother Jud and things come to a nasty head one day, the outcome of which I won't reveal.

It's a lovely film and the characters are so cleverly written. The film is humorous but there are many poignant moments and a couple of weepy scenes as well. The film is actually based on a book called `A Kestrel for a Knave' by Barry Hines so some people might be familiar with that story. The film has always been rated very highly and according to Wikipedia, the film is ranked seventh in the British Film Institute's Top Ten (British) Films and among the top ten in its list of the 50 films you should see by the age of 14.

The film is 1 hour 46 minutes long and is rated PG. I have seen it for sale on Amazon for just £3.49 which is a bargain! Definitely worth a watch.