Billy Elliot

A movie by Stephen Daldry

With Jamie Bell, Julie Walters, Jamie Draven, Gary Lewis

Christina says:

By chance eleven-year-old Billy Elliot (Jamie Bell) finds himself in a ballet class. He discovers that dancing is his true passion and even gruff teacher Mrs. Wilkinson (Julie Walters) notices his talent. She wants him to go to the Royal Ballet School in London, but ballet is not something boys do when they live in a mining town in Northern England. Real men box or play football or are out on the streets fighting to keep the mines open. The imminent shutdown of the local mine is a big strain on the Elliot family. Both Billy’s father (Gary Lewis) and his brother Tony are miners. Radical Tony doesn’t shy away from violent clashes with the ever-present police. Billy’s mother is dead and he does his best to fill the gap she left in the family. He secretly uses the money for his boxing lessons to pay Mrs. Wilkinson, but soon his father finds out that Billy has no intention of following in his footsteps as a boxing champion. At first Billy meets with disapproval, but then the family is united in their efforts to give him his chance.

Since this is no glossy Hollywood flick Billy is not allowed to find refuge in the perfect world of dancing. Instead he is almost torn apart by the demands of his family and his teacher and dances away his frustrations. Whenever he takes flight he is brought back down to Earth and the harsh realities of life, symbolized in the movie by the mix of powerful dance scenes and scenes where the miners fight the police. Still Billy makes it in a world that couldn’t be more different from the one he grew up in.

Jamie Bell debuts impressively as Billy Elliot and is surrounded by an equally strong cast. Director Stephen Daldry deftly manipulates the dramatic as well as the quiet images. There are funny and moving moments, but the message of the movie is not the usual kitschy "Follow your dream and everything will turn out fine." It tells the story of a group of people who are shaken by life but manage to make the best of what they get. Billy remains at the center of the story, but even when he achieves his goal the triumph is bittersweet. He has to leave his family, and even his success doesn’t weigh much against the destruction of a whole industrial branch and the way of life connected with it. Stephen Daldry always manages to keep things in perspective.

Julie Walters is a riot as the chain-smoking ballet teacher. When I saw her yell at her students or butt heads with Billy’s brother I already started looking forward to seeing her as Mrs. Weasley in J. K. Rowling’s HARRY POTTER AND THE PHILOSOPHER’S STONE. Apart from Jamie Bells amazing performance I was impressed most by Gary Lewis as Billy’s father Jackie. He played the widower who for the second time in his life loses the ground from under his feet with great intensity.

A fantastic movie that beats mainstream Hollywood fare without effort.

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Christina Gross

Last changes: 01/04/03