the film was set. In 1987, the VHS release was given a PG certificate on the grounds of "the frequent use of mild language", and the film has remained PG since that time. Home media A digitally restored version of the film was released on DVD and Blu-ray by The Criterion Collection in April 2011. The extras feature a new documentary featuring Loach, Menges, producer Tony Garnett, and actor David Bradley, a 1993 episode of The South Bank Show with Ken Loach, Cathy Come Home (1966), an early television feature by Loach, with an afterword by film writer Graham Fuller, and an alternative, internationally released soundtrack, with postsync dialogue. Reception The film was a word-of-mouth hit in Britain, eventually making a profit. However, it was a commercial flop in the US. In his four-star review, Roger Ebert said that the film failed to open in Chicago, and attributed the problems to the Yorkshire accents. Ebert saw the film at a 1972 showing organised by the Biological Honor Society at the Loyola University Chicago, which led him to ask, "were they interested in the movie, or the kestrel?" Nevertheless, he described the film as "one of the best, the warmest, the most moving films of recent years". Director Krzysztof Kieslowski named it as one of his favorite films. On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 100% based on 31 reviews, with an average rating of 9.56/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "A harrowing coming of age tale told simply and truly, Kes is a spare and richly humane tribute to the small pockets of beauty to be found in an oppressive world." In an essay included with the 2016 Blu-ray release of the film, commentator Philip Kent writes: Reflecting on changes in the film's locale and setting in the intervening 40-odd years, Graham Fuller wrote in 2011: Reviewing the film in 2009 for www.frenchfilms.org, James Travers wrote: Graeme Ross, writing in 2019 in The Independent, placed the film 8th in his "best British movies of all time", saying: Awards 1970: Karlovy Vary International Film Festival – Crystal Globe 1971: Writers' Guild of Great Britain Award – Best British Screenplay 1971: British Academy Film Awards Best Actor in a Supporting Role – Colin Welland Most Promising Newcomer to Leading Film Roles – David Bradley See also BFI Top 100 British films References Further reading Interview with David