Movie: Billy Elliot

This Review Reveals Minor Details About the Plot.

Dancer

Plot Overview

Brit Jackie Elliot (Gary Lewis) is managing though his music- and dance-loving wife (Janine Birkett) passed away a year ago, in 1983, and the mine where he works is now on strike. Out of several manly options, he's enrolled his 11-year-old Billy (Jamie Bell) in boxing training at the local Everington Boys Club. It was Mohammed Ali who once said, “I dance like a butterfly, sting like a bee.” Billy has the dancing part down pat but could use some work on stinging (“Jesus Christ, Billy Elliot! You're a disgrace to them gloves!”). His older brother Tony (Jamie Draven,) also on strike, has the bee-stinging part mastered but has trouble evading the cops (“I don't plan on getting caught”) after him for sabotage.

The soup kitchen for the striking miners has appropriated the boys club base­ment, so Mrs. Wilkin­son (Dame Julie Walters)'s bargain basement ballet business has been bumped upstairs to the other end of the gym from the boxing ring. Mr. Wilkinson (Colin Maclachlan) became “redundant” at his job, and he “did it with this woman from work,” so now he and the Mrs “sleep in separate beds … so they can't have sex.” As short story authoress Cynthia Phoel puts it, “if they're having sex, then they're going to be okay. ‘Sex can cure any­thing,’ Stassi says, ‘even cancer’” (5). When the dancers and the boxers end up in the same space, the same bed as it were, there is some commingling of talents. Mrs. Wilkin­son recognizes Billy's dance genius and wants him to audition for a scholar­ship to the Royal Ballet School in London. His dad and brother put the kibosh on that idea once they get wind of it.

The happy Christmas spirit comes along and touches everyone, the strike gets settled, and pop relents.

Billy still has to over­come his nervous­ness to go through with it, and then there's the waiting to see if he gets accepted.

Ideology

An obscure biblical character Agur (Prov. 30:1) while not claiming to be any great one offers a chapter of advice to his buddies, (Prov. 30:2-3) “Surely I am more brutish than any man, and have not the understanding of a man. I neither learned wisdom, nor have the knowledge of the holy.” He gives four career nuggets sized down to his level: (Prov. 30:24) “There be four things which are little upon the earth, but they are exceeding wise:”

(Prov. 30:25) “The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer.” The first career counsel is to start working early, in the summer of life. Billy says, “I don't want a child­hood. I want to be a ballet dancer.” The thing about profes­sional dancing is, “You've gotta start training when you're young,” The lesson Billy is given in the ring is the same one given on the dance floor, to pay attention (“You're not concen­trating.”) It just hurts more when Billy fails to. The dancers are constantly admonished about, “What have I told you about that arm?” Yet long before Billy entered any ring, his mom instructed him about not drinking milk straight from the bottle but to pour it into a glass, the bottle to be capped and returned to the fridge, all involving his arm. Good work habits are thus early developed.

(Prov. 30:26) “The conies are but a feeble folk, yet make they their houses in the rocks.” Their dwellings offer them protection. The next important career move is to settle in a good location for one's career. “There are no mines in London,” says the father, which is why it's not a good place for a miner to live. But a dancer is another matter; it's like sending coal to New­castle for the dancing oppor­tunities available, join the party.

(Prov. 30:27) “The locusts have no king, yet go they forth all of them by bands.” Another step is to develop an informal support network. Billy gets the dance instructor on his side for 50 pence a lesson, leading to private lessons gratis. Ultimately, though, he's got to have his whole family on board 100% to be accepted.

(Prov. 30:28) “The spider taketh hold with her hands, and is in kings' palaces.” That palace gets swept regularly, but the spider just puts up a new web. Some­times one's well-developed work falls through and he has to do some­thing else. In the case of the mining strike, though, word is, “It won't last long; it's just a few communists stirring things up.”

Production Values

“” (2000) was directed by Stephen Daldry. It was written by Lee Hall. It stars Jamie Bell, Julie Walters and Jamie Draven. They all lived up to expectations for well-trained British actors.

MPA rated it R for language. An edited version was released in the USA rated PG–13, which tones down the language. Briticisms could confuse the matter for Americans. In England pissed can mean drunk and a poof is a homo—they're generally tolerant, how­ever, about what they're called.

I was impressed by the clever use of cinema­tog­raphy in places. The pacing moves steadily along. British humor is tempered. Runtime is 1 hour 50 minutes.

Review Conclusion w/a Christian's Recommendation

A gay friend is introduced to emphasize the difference between homo leanings and a dance designed to emphasize the feminine form. The male dancer is neither effeminate nor homophobic,

This is basically just a good movie with a straight­forward plot. It doesn't try to get cute. The Billy character was a good dancer who gave it all he had. Especially recommended for dance aficionados.

Movie Ratings

Action factor: Well done action flick. Suitability For Children: Not Suitable for Children of Any Age. Special effects: Average special effects. Video Occasion: Good for a Rainy Day. Suspense: A few suspenseful moments. Overall movie rating: Four stars out of five.

Works Cited

Scripture quoted from the King James Version. Pub. 1611, rev. 1769. Software.

Phoel, Cynthia Morrison. “A Good Boy” appearing in her compilation, Cold Snap. Copyright © 2010 by Cynthia Morrison Phoel. Dallas: Southern Methodist University Press, 2010. Print.