MovieChat Forums > Kes (1970) Discussion > The Ending (spoiler)

The Ending (spoiler)

posted 14 years ago by mr-murph
16 replies | jump to latest

I really didn't see the ending coming, and I guess I expected the bird to fly off or something. Wow! It came like a punch in the gut. So... I'm wondering.
Just for the sake of discussion, could the film have ended on a more upbeat note? Would that have destroyed what came before? Was the ending inevitable to you? I'd be interested in any replies ranging from those who have a deep understanding of how "story" works to those who just happen to like movies.

Anyway... what a downer. [Terrific movie, though].

[–] blueyes13 14 years ago

Yeah, i really enjoyed the film untill the end. I wasn't to happy with the ending. As beautiful as it was that was just too sad. I would have liked to seen more of what happens with Casper after his brother kills the falcon. Or at least some kind of comeuppance for the horrible older brother.

[–] reeceoconnell1991 14 years ago

I honestly think the end is the lesson of the film. It is to portray the realism and brutal honesty of being let down by life. The point is to show how an undeserving character is subjected to being oppressed by the unjust social structure around him, living in a world that doesn't care. A world that has restricted him from developing a passion for life through the bird, Casper didn't get in anyone's way and was still cut down by the people around him for no deserving reason. For it to have a happy ending would be ignorant to the entire point of the film. The bird needed to die to show Casper how his world is. Which is a reality for many working class britans of the time. If it did want to portay the happier side, it would not be by closing us off and pretending that there is no cases of this, but by the charater personally surving through the harsh lessons he learned.

[–] ritchie-26 14 years ago

I'm sure I heard somewhere (it might have been from Dai Bradley himself) that there were three different endings. If anybody knows of a different ending especially if they have a video file of it I would really be interested. [email protected]

I also have an undubbed copy of the film broadcast c. 1984 on BBC2. It is excellent quality and will do a copy for anybody who's interested.

[–] TheProjector 13 years ago

In the book there is at least one (maybe two) chapters after the death of Kes, which were omitted from the film. Basically, Billy walks through the town in a daze (presumably in shock), still carrying the dead bird. He ends up breaking into an old boarded-up, derelict cinema; where he sits in the stalls in silent reverie, thinking back on the good times in his life when he used to go there with his father.

I remember this from when I had to study the book for GCSE. Unfortunately, I'm not too sure where my copy is so I can't remember exactly how it ends, but I've got a feeling it finishes with Billy simply burying Kes somewhere.

[–] ritchieandlinda 11 years ago

My new Email is [email protected] and I forgot i was Ritchie-26

[–] kenburke0627 13 years ago

You make a good point. Sometimes a happy ending goes against what the movie is trying to say.

[–] neil_mc 10 years ago

I don't believe the bird living would have constituted a happy ending; but killing the bird was just unnecessarily downbeat.

Given that we'd already spent 90 minutes in the life of Billy, we were in no doubt that it was a pretty miserable existence anyway for a young lad, so for me this didn't need ramming home even further with such an ending.

"Please don't eat me! I have a wife and kids. Eat them!"

[–] dslacker 12 years ago

Yeah - Steven Spielberg should have gotten ahold of this film and tacked on his usual out-of-place happy ending. For the Americans. I haven't seen "Lincoln" yet, but I'm guessing Abe survives the gunshot and remains President happily ever after....

[–] angelx 11 years ago

^Since when has Spielberg done that?

[–] zvelf 11 years ago

A.I., Minority Report, and War of the Worlds. The first two in particular had strong (albeit depressing) moments to end on, but gave it up for a more feel-good ending.

[–] BobsBrotherFutureman 11 years ago

AI followed Kubricks ending to a tee.....

[–] kkm_22 13 years ago

Wow. Maybe I watch too many movies (or maybe I'm just overly-pessimistic and expect the worse out of people), but it seemed so obvious that Kes was going to die, by the hands of the brother Jud especially. What tipped me off was the scene with Jud beating up Billy over his falconry book. He kept making comments of how he would go shooting the birds, almost to spite Billy. Jud was a brute and a bastard; I had a feeling it would be him.

I was kinda hoping I was wrong, but...this movie was so bleak! I didn't have the heart to really entertain the thought of something "nice" like, Kes flying away to freedom.

Regardless, I thought it was another beautiful, but depressing British film.

[–] sigold999 12 years ago

Firstly the ending in the book, which was very good, just did not or would not work in the film - as it escaped reality and would have appeared awkward.

There was never any alternative ending to the film. It is actually, I believe, quite important that the bird dies. This is not the death of Billy, but just an aspect of his life, and the viewer has chance to ponder what will happen to Billy now?

Simon Golding author of Life After Kes .

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Life-After-Kes-British-Classic/dp/0954879333/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1350261080&sr=8-1

PS. So I did get the answers mostly from the horses mouth.

[–] TheCineSinge 12 years ago

It felt abrupt and I've seen it once so I won't get all analytical but I'm sure it works in the context of the film.

Anyway, it's been a while I've been waiting to see this (don't ask me why) but rest assured it'll have repeated viewings for many a year to come. Very good film.

[–] Xeokym 12 years ago

Oh I absolutely knew the bird was going to end up dead right from the beginning. I'd never even heard about the movie till recently, but when I read that it was on the list of top 50 movies to see before you're 14, I just knew it was going to be a tearjerker kind of thing. Plus, the whole movie is just dismal, you can TELL that's what it's leading up to. This kid has nothing going for him, but he has one little spark of interest in falconry. Yet no matter what he does, he just cannot win. I figured that either the bullies at school or the rat-bastard half-brother was going to do something mean, like set the shed on fire or kill Kes.

When he runs home & says "you killed her didn't you?" and the brother says "yeah I did!" I just felt that spike of rage & pain you can see go right through him. There's been so many times where things happen to you where you can relate to that...you have no power to wind time backwards & fix or change something that shouldn't have happened. Just utter, soul-crushing frustration.

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I can't understand your crazy moon language.

[–] jshoaf 11 years ago

From the moment Jud disappeared from the school I knew he had gone home to kill the hawk. The dread just kept building from there.