Review of Billy Elliot (2000) by Dawdlingpoet — 20 Nov 2021

The plot pace is quite fast, in as much as Billys clear interest in dancing and choreography via ballet is brought to light within the first twenty minutes. The film is set in the economically bleak period of the 1984 miners strike, a harsh time for the north of England, where this film is set. Thematically this film covers gender stereotypes, cross dressing and other taboos, or what certainly were at the time, plus the social class system perhaps. More symbolically perhaps, this film deals with determination, (self) identity and expression. Although I was familiar with the main story, I found there to be a few plot twists that I wasn't aware of and which (thus) took me by surprise. I thought its quite a good film from a 'beating the odds' sort of perspective, although no doubt for some it'll seem a bit too obvious and/or sentimental, which I guess comes down to your personal taste in films and the like.

The film features an eclectic soundtrack, consisting of both 1970s and 1980s chart hits, including T. Rex 'I Love To Boogie' and 'Children Of The Revolution', 'London Calling' by The Clash and 'Town Called Malice' by The Jam. There also numerous classical orchestral pieces. I liked the fact that the tracks were quite uplifting and optimistic in tone, compared to the bleak setting, as both the local community are clearly in turmoil but moreso the Elliot family in general struggling to get through, having to attempt to move on from Billys mothers tragic passing. I felt there was an uplifting element to it.

It may seem (the film in general, this is not strictly referring to the soundtrack) perhaps a little simplistic but I felt the balance between optimism and pessimism, the mix of good and bad did seem believably realistic. It had a bit of a 'Hollywood' feel to it, (particularly at the end I suppose) in as much as it being the tale of an underdog wanting to succeed in being allowed to express himself in the way he feels most comfortable and to heck with how others judge him but I did feel that the way the the local community and perhaps more importantly his closest family members, reacted to his new found 'hobby', seemed fairly plausible to me anyway.

I found myself feeling quite concerned for the various characters, due to their bleak circumstances. Some scenes are quite emotional and I must say that the cast did a stellar job in giving very powerful performances, most noteably of course Jamie Bell, who plays the title character Billy, Julie Walters, who plays the ballet/dance teacher (both of which won numerous awards for their roles) and Gary Lewis, who plays Billys dad. Billys dads response in certain scenes and at certain points I found to be quite touching and I felt that overall the film was both entertaining and engrossing. Some scenes are quite tense and I felt keen throughout to find out what the outcome would be. Its not an especially long film, which is always a plus side in my book, with it having a running time of approximately 1 hour 45 minutes.

Content wise, there is strong language and moderate violence present in this film, plus sex references and partial nudity but nothing too graphic. Yes, I'd recommend this film. It features some poignant dialogue with some very tense and emotional scenes, a good soundtrack, memorable performances and covering a number of important social themes/issues.