Flashdance meets Trainspotting in Billy Elliot, a modern-day fairytale by first-time filmmaker Stephen Daldry that will disarm you with its grit and steal your heart with its charm.
As a boy growing up in northern England, life offers few options for 11-year-old Billy Elliot, apart from eventually joining his widowed father and older brother in the coal pits that are the town's life blood.
That all changes when Billy, played brilliantly by newcomer Jamie Bell, stumbles across the ballet class that shares space in the gymnasium where he takes boxing lessons. From his first uncertain steps, it becomes painfully clear to Billy and his instructor Mrs. Wilkinson (Julie Walters of Educating Rita) where his true love lies.
Problem is, boys in working-class England don't take part in ballet, or "bali" as his father pronounces it, a pastime for poofters, a.k.a. homosexuals.
Tougher yet, his dad, played in Oscar-nomination fashion by Gary Lewis, and hard-nosed brother Tony (Jamie Draven), are stalwarts in the miners' union involved in a bitter and violent strike in 1985.
In a life where just putting food on the table is a struggle, there is no room for the perceived weakness or decadence that the "bali" embodies.
Billy, however, will not be denied. Driven by his passion, he and Mrs. Wilkinson continue his lessons in secret until Billy becomes good enough for a shot at the Royal Ballet School, a dream his father seems intent on never allowing to fruition.
Will Billy realize his dream? Will his dad eventually see the light? D-uh.
But then if that's all Billy Elliot was about, this would be nothing more than the aforementioned all-flash Flashdance, or even worse, the ludicrous Footloose.
Billy Elliot, however, is much more. This beautifully shot film is filled with rich characters brought to life by dialogue that is the stuff of real life.
Lewis in particular is a standout, a tortured soul who in one strike-breaking scene shows off his mettle by speaking volumes without saying a word.
Director Daldry also deserves credit for preventing this film from slipping into schmaltz, performing an artistic dance of his own that balances every high with a low and uses the divisive coal strike as a symbolic backdrop to Billy's own struggle against authority.
Even the soundtrack, featuring some great old T-Rex tunes, adds a touch of sophistication feel-good movies aren't supposed to possess.
It's a breath of fresh air in what has been a stale year at the theatre that almost makes you want to dance.
(This film is rated AA)
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