Barnsley, England. Billy Casper works a paper round, reads The Dandy, and is a natural with animals. Failed by the school system and harangued at home, he spends his energy keeping and training a kestrel. A teacher and some local shopowners get behind the enterprise, while others come in the way.

With all the heart-stopping precision of a falcon stooping for prey, this perfect work of social realism finds—and dives for—hope amid hardship. Authenticated by actual locations and a breathtakingly true performance from then-unknown David Bradley, Ken Loach’s soulful portrait of boyhood soars.