# Billy Elliot (2000)

### reviewed by
Jerry Saravia

To be honest, I approached this movie with a certain dread. The advertisements called it: uplifting! Oscar-worthy! Finally, a bloody good film about the human soul and the triumph of the human spirit! Well, a bloody good film about the human soul is "Taxi Driver" but I know what people want from the cinema nowadays. Sentiment and in equal doses with a touch of heavy syrup added to make you feel not so much uplifted but weepy. I resent when manipulative tearjerkers exist because there is rarely much soul or humanity in them. Think of the countless Lifetime TV movies-of-the-week, or for that matter, the absurdly awful "The Evening Star," which led us to believe that a huge mortality rate equals emotion. Not so. But I digress. "Billy Elliot" could have been a contender for most sentimental hogwash of the year but it is not: it is a humane, positively uplifting film guaranteed to at least place a smile on your face.

Billy Elliot (the extraordinary Jamie Bell) is a young boy living in the poor section of Northern England with his tough-as-nails father, Jackie (Gary Lewis), and Billy's older, rougher brother, Tony (Jamie Draven). Billy takes care of his grandmother, who also lives with him, while his father and brother act as scabs - they protest the town's ongoing mine strike. This means they are unemployed at the moment, and the last thing they need to hear is that Billy is thinking of becoming a ballet dancer!

But the macho ethic of Jackie and Tony does not allow for fairies or swans, so to speak. Billy actually takes up boxing but lacks the drive and the attitude. One day, he observes a ballet class taking place in the same gymnasium where he boxes. Billy is transfixed and decides to learn ballet. Why? Even he doesn't know but it does bring some energy and enthusiasm to the kid - he feels alive when he dances. The gum-chewing teacher (Julie Walters) instructs the boy, despite stern objections from Jackie and Tony. Billy loves ballet and the movement of the body swaying to the strains of Tchaikovsky's "Swan Ballet" - it is definitely an escape for the boy from the horrors at home. The teacher is so impressed with the boy that she tells him to audition for the Royal Ballet School in London.

"Billy Elliot" is essentially the well-traveled road about a kid from a poor town who plans to make a difference by following his dreams. The tale is nothing new but of course, what matters is how it is told. What remains questionable is the amount of time invested in Jackie and Tony's lives, which breaks the tension and charisma of watching Billy practice his ballet. Jackie and Tony are scabs, and they are fed up with life and all it has to offer - Jackie is also widowed. This no doubt affects Billy, but the movie follows the formula to the hilt without ever following its heart. Sure, Jackie is disapproving of his son's artistic intentions but he comes around. As a scab, he chooses to go to work to support his son's travel expenses to London. The gritty realism we are given about a father torn by his love for his long-lost wife and by his desire to not work doesn't wash, nor does Tony's sudden change-of-heart (if I am not mistaken, he even wears an apron in one scene!) These plot changes do not qualify as spoilers because if you've seen "Rocky" or "Flashdance," you've seen this same tale woven by many.

What does wash are the beautifully choreographed ballet scenes - this Jamie Bell is one hell of a dancer, and a fine actor to boot (Haley Joel Osment, watch out!) He is charismatic, soulful, determined, enthusiastic, and a fighter - he will not quit until he gets those dance moves right. It is sheer bliss to watch any scene with Bell, and his moments with Julie Walters are awe-inspiring (not as good though as the similar tale with Shirley MacLaine in "Madame Sousatzka"). There also some wonderful scenes between Billy and his best friend, Michael (Stuart Wells), who wears his mother's clothes. I also like the tender scenes between Billy and the teacher's daughter (Nicola Blackwell). But whenever the film dwells on the mine strike, it is as if we were watching another film entirely. One has the grit and the other has the fantasy, and the two do not mesh evenly.

"Billy Elliot" doesn't succumb to the overt sentimentality of typical Hollywood fare by reminding us when to weep. It builds on the charismatic Jamie Bell, who uplifts us in spite of the cliches and uneven subplot surrounding him. He reminds us of how we can follow our dreams wherever they take us.

For more reviews, check out JERRY AT THE MOVIES at http://buffs.moviething.com/buffs/faust/

E-mail me with any questions, comments or general complaints at jerry@movieluver.com or at Faust667@aol.com

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