“What’s wrong with ballet?” eleven-year-old Billy Elliot asks his wicked father innocently. I imagine it’s a question that director Stephen Daldry has undoubtedly had to pose numerous times to producers and money-lenders, before he got the green light to make a movie out of the script to Billy Elliot.

Who would have thought?

I mean, a drama about a boy who trades in his boxing gloves for a ballet outfit, against a background of the English miners’ strike in 1984, can’t have sounded like a box office hit. Luckily Billy Elliot turned out to be a wonderful movie. And dare I say, one of the most impressive, sincere, and touching movies ever made.

A depressing background

North-England, 1984. In a small miners’ village the economic depression is spreading rapidly. Prime minister Margaret Thatcher (“The Iron Lady” being one of her more flattering nicknames) regards striking miners as criminals, so they are anything but sure of their job and their income. Billy Elliot (brilliantly played by Jamie Bell) is one of the many kids who carry the consequences of the misery. His father (Gary Lewis) and brother (Jamie Draven) are active union members, so every penny has to be bitten in half in order to have some sort of life. All Billy has left of his mother is a tombstone and a memory. On top of all this, he has to do his utmost best to prevent his demented grandmother to hurt herself.

Light in the darkness

Every week Billy’s father gives him some pocket money to take boxing lessons in the local gym. When the ballet class of chain-smoking Mrs. Wilkinson (Julie Walters) has to set up shop next to the boxing ring due to lack of space, something magical occurs in young Billy’s body. He becomes fascinated by ballet and decides to spend his boxing money on ballet lessons instead.

”What’s wrong with ballet?” “It just IS!”

Father and brother Elliot are – of course – considerably less enthusiastic about Billy’s “unmanly” hobby. “Lads do football, boxing or wrestling, no freaking ballet!” his father shouts. He forbids his son to take any more dancing lessons, so Billy is forced to continue his passion in secret with Mrs. Wilkinson, the teacher who firmly believes the young dancer has got what it takes to be accepted to attend the prestigious Royal Ballet School in London. Slowly but surely Billy gets torn up between his family and the gift that can take him out of all misery for once and for all…

A Town Called Malice

Billy Elliot isn’t just a marvellous social drama – it is one of the best dance movies in movie history. Movement and dance are part of every single scene you see. For example, father Elliot doesn’t say much but with his body language he conveys more than words could ever do.
But the biggest applause goes to Jamie Bell, who radiates energy and charm as he dances to music by The Clash, Tchaikovsky and T-Rex. And the scene where Billy tries to dance his way to freedom to the music of The Jam’s A Town Called Malice, is a classic that is right up there with Gene Kelly’s dancing scene in Singin’ in the Rain or the amazing performance of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers in Swing Time.

Simple and pure

The grey miners’ town poses an excellent stage to the lovely “coming of age”-fairy tale that was made. The power of the story – which is loosely based on the true success story of dancer Philip Marsden – lies in the natural simplicity… With this simplicity they show how three generations of Elliots experience the world around them. Every feeling and every incident is presented without any embellishment: not a single moment is exaggerated for dramatics’ or comedy’s sake. The sober view that Billy and his grandmother have of the world, forms a beautiful contrast with the hidden anger, pain and frustration that dominate the hard lives of his father and brother.

Must see!

It pains me to say that there aren’t any movies that get the “must see” label, but I have no other choice in the case of Billy Elliot. The movie is a triumph and will undoubtedly grow into a genuine classic that will impress as much in thirty years as it does now.

In conclusion

Billy Elliot is a movie experience that makes you feel like a kid once more; it will have you making pliés, pirouettes, and arabesques around the living room.
Oh, and when you go see Billy Elliot, don’t forget to put a big box of tissues next to you. If your eyes don’t get watery when you see this movie, you should go straight to the doctor and ask him if your heart still works.


Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: VHS
Video Occasion: Good Date Movie
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older
Special Effects: Well at least you can't see the strings