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Newcastle lad discovers the joy of ballet while his father
and brother join a miners' strike. I know this sounds pretty
naff, but Billy Elliot is a surprisingly heartwarming tale and
one of the better British films of recent years.
Jamie Bell is the title character, an 11 year old kid living
in Newcastle. It is 1984 and his family is struggling to deal
with the recent death of his mother, the financial burden of
a major miners' strike, and having to look after Grandma (Jean
Heywood). Billy's dad Jackie (Gary Lewis) is hard nosed, no
nonsense Northern miner and ex-boxer who expects his youngest
son to grow up the same way. Billy, however, is useless at boxing
and gets pummelled whenever he steps into the ring. For some
reason (which is never really explained), Billy starts skipping
boxing lessons and goes to ballet class instead. Despite the
fact that the chain smoking ballet teacher Mrs Wilkinson (Julie
Walters) continually yells at him, Billy starts to really get
into this ballet lark and prepares for an audition at the Royal
Ballet School. Of course, there is no way that Billy's dad or
his try hard tough boy brother Tony (Jamie Draven) are going
to even entertain the idea of Billy to do anything as poofy
as ballet. In fact, other than Mrs Wilkinson, the only people
who come close to believing in Billy are his doddery grandmother,
his cross dressing mate Michael, and his sexually precocious
ballet classmate Debbie - so the odds are really stacked against
him.
One of the things I noticed about this film is that everyone
is always getting angry and there's a lot of shouting going
on. Either Jackie shouts at Billy, Tony shouts at Billy, Mrs
Wilkinson shouts at Billy, striking miners shout at strike breakers,
or Billy shouts back at everyone else. All this shouting gets
a bit tiresome after a while, but maybe that's just how things
are in Newcastle.
This film could have been really terrible. The Newcastle setting
could have been really dull and the whole treatment of the story
could have been schmaltzy and cliched. But somehow, it isn't.
Somehow, director Stephen Daldry as created a film that is sometimes
funny, sometimes grim, and sometimes emotional. Even the dance
numbers seem to work (mainly because although Billy has some
natural talent, he never gets THAT good so his dancing never
gets too glamorous or Hollywood-like). The viewer gets caught
up in Billy's life and you find yourself willing Billy to get
his pirouette to work (in the same way you willed Luke Skywalker
to control the Force).
Overall, this film is a pleasant surprise. Despite a dodgy
plot and too much shouting, it succeeds at drawing in the emotions
of the audience. Bring a handkerchief.
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