The career of the film-maker Ken Loach embraces both the cinema and television, and has included Cathy Come Home, Kes, and the films Riff-Raff, Raining Stones and Land and Freedom, which won major continental awards. This book presents an exploration of his work.

An exploration of Ken Loach's cinema of social conscience. One of Britain's most distinguished and respected filmmakers, he makes tough, uncompromising films about a beleaguered working class--but with poetry and humor. Honored by every major British and European award for his films of the nineties (Ladybird, Ladybird; Land and Freedom; Raining Stones; Riff-Raff; The Flickering Flame and Carla's Song), Loach initially changed the face of British politics in the 1960s with a devastating television series on the homeless. Most recently he has stirred furious debate among the Spanish with Land and Freedom, his 1995 film on the Spanish Civil War.

"The Cinema of Ken Loach: Art in the Service of the People examines the linking of art and politics that distinguishes the work of this leading British film director. Loach's films manifest recurrent themes over a long period of working with various collaborators, yet his handling of those themes has changed throughout his career. This book examines those changes as a way of reaching an understanding of Loach's style and meaning. It evaluates how Loach incorporates his political beliefs and those of his writers into his work and augments this thematic interpretation with contextual information gleaned from original archive research and new interviews."--BOOK JACKET.

John Hill's definitive study looks at the career and work of British director Ken Loach. From his early television work (Cathy Come Home) through to landmark films (Kes) and examinations of British society (Looking For Eric) this landmark study reveals Loach as one of the great European directors.

Life is tough and cheerless for Billy Casper, a disillusioned teenager growing up in a small Yorkshire mining town. Violence is commonplace and he is frequently cold and hungry. Yet he is determined to be a survivor and when he finds Kes, a kestrel hawk he discovers a passion in life. Billy identifies with her proud silence and she inspired in him the trust and love that nothing else can. Intense and raw and bitingly honest, A KETREL FOR A KNAVE was first published in 1968 and was also madeinto a highly acclaimed film, 'Kes', directed by Ken Loach.

"This new stage adaptation of Barry Hines' well-known film and novel once again proves its gritty charm and popular staying power..." --Back cover.

Seminar paper from the year 2009 in the subject Didactics for the subject English - Literature, Works, grade: 1,7, Free University of Berlin, language: English, abstract: The life of the "Ae Fond Kiss" protagonists, Casim and Roisin, is made difficult when they start a romantic relationship that brings Casim’s Pakistani background into conflict with Roisin’s Irish Catholic background They are condemned to experience how long standing prejudice and narrow-mindedness get in the way of what looks like a promising, almost harmonious love story –just like it tragically happens to Romeo and Juliet.