Billy Elliot is quite a simple film about an eleven year old boy called Billy who lives in northern England. By "simple" I mean that it only has a handful of actors and no special effects. This, however, is not a problem if you’re more interested in good acting and a decent story.
It’s 1984, and Billy’s family is caught in the midst of the miner’s strike. His mother is dead, and his father and brother are striking miners. While they spend their day on a picket line, fighting armed policemen, Billy takes care of his grandma, goes to school, and takes boxing lessons. Billy doesn’t enjoy boxing — he’s no good at it, and seems more interested in what’s going on down the other end of the hall. He sees little girls dressed in ballet outfits, and hears a woman shouting instructions to them. When, one evening, he’s asked to return some keys to the woman, he finds himself captivated by the ballet lessons. Without really knowing why, he shyly joins them, and is accepted without question. The woman is Mrs. Wilkinson, played by Julie Walters, and her daughter, Debbie makes friends with Billy.
Sensing that his macho father and brother would go mental if they discovered him pursuing such an ‘unmanly’ hobby, Billy hides his ballet shoes and pretends to go boxing, spending his 50p boxing money on Ballet lessons instead. At first, he displays a kind of clumsy talent, but over time he loses his clumsiness, and it becomes increasingly clear that Billy Elliot was born to be a ballet dancer. In due course, his father finds out, of course, and he bans Billy from going to ballet lessons. Mrs. Wilkinson knows talent when she sees it, and offers Billy private lessons, which he accepts, and before long he’s ready to take an audition for ballet school...
I personally enjoyed Billy Elliot very much, probably because I identified so much with Billy. When I was his age, I had no interest in boxing, or other macho sports, much preferring the company of girls, playing hopscotch and doing maths exercises. Like Billy, I was subjected to a great deal of abuse and ignorance from my peers and teachers, and unlike Billy, I succumbed and ended up pretending to be someone I’m not. Billy’s my hero, because he refuses to submit to the ideals and gender stereotypes of the ignorant people around him. He follows his heart in the face of adversity, and not surprisingly, in the end, he shines.
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