- Condition: New
- Format: DVD
- Closed-captioned; Color; DVD; Widescreen; NTSC
Winning and powerful drama set in a 1980s British mining town where 11-year-old Billy switches from boxing to ballet when he discovers he has a talent for dancing. Over the opposition of his widowed father and brother, both striking miners, Billy secretly takes lessons under the guidance of a tough and dedicated teacher with hopes for an audition to the Royal Ballet School. Jamie Bell, Julie Walters, and Gary Lewis star. 111 min. Widescreen (Enhanced); Soundtracks: English Dolby Digital 5.1, French Dolby Digital 5.1; "making of" featurette; theatrical trailer; DVD-ROM content; scene access.Foursquare in the gritty-but-heartwarming tradition of
Brassed Off and
The Full Monty comes
Billy Elliot, the first film from noted British theatrical director Stephen Daldry. The setting is County! Durham in 1984, and things "up north" are even grimmer than usual: the miners' strike is in full rancorous swing, and 11-year-old Billy's dad and older brother, miners both, are on the picket lines. Billy's got problems of his own. His dad has scraped together the fees to send him to boxing lessons, but Billy has discovered a different aptitude: a genius for ballet dancing. Since admitting to such an activity is tantamount, in this fiercely macho culture, to holding up a sign reading "I Am Gay," Billy keeps it quiet. But his teacher, Mrs. Wilkinson (Julie Walters, wearily undaunted), thinks he should audition for ballet school in London. Family ructions are inevitable.
Daldry's film sidesteps some of the politics, both sexual and otherwise, but scores with its laconic dialogue (credit to screenwriter Lee Hall) and a cracking performance from newcomer Jamie Bell as Billy. His powerhouse dance routines, more Gene Kelly than Nureyev, carry an irresistible sense of exhilar! ation and self-discovery. Among a flawless supporting cast, St! uart Wel ls stands out as Billy's sweet gay friend Michael. And if the miners' strike serves largely as background color, the brief episode when visored and truncheon-wielding cops rampage through neat little terraced houses captures one of the most spiteful episodes in recent British history. --Philip Kemp
