David O'ConnellBilly Elliot
July 14th 2011 03:05
In the late 1990’s a handful of British films monstered the box office by tapping into a disproportionately large audience of people willing to ignore the blockbuster mentality that mostly drags these infrequent viewers into the world’s multiplexes. These feel-good tales of ordinary working class people who refuse to become Ken Loach figurines crawling back to the trough of despair again and again, fed off word-of-mouth, in effect transcending the ideal of what can be achieved by ‘small’ cinema. Even if they weren’t necessarily critical darlings, the successes achieved by Brassed Off (1996), The Full Monty (1997) and later, Calendar Girls (2003), were not coincidental it seems.
In what is perhaps the finest example of all, Stephen Daldry’s Billy Elliot (2000), young Jamie Bell, plucked from virtual obscurity, would give a defining performance as the youngster whose ineffective abilities in the boxing ring effectively throw him into the seething pit of a coal-mining town’s masculine hostility. In Everington, the men are a tough breed, using their fists to annul the frustrations of their lives and 11 year old Billy, despite his frail physique, is obviously feted to follow the same path. Any other pastime would be considered unthinkable.
But through circumstance he needs to stay behind late one night, and susceptible to boredom, he’s coerced into training with the ballet class where the wannabe boxers usually train side by side. Something about this physical, but non-violent form of expression appeals to him. But he needs to keep his enthusiasm in the closet with the help of instructor (Julie Walters) for the humiliation if discovered by his family, will be unending.
In time the film’s main themes emerge with genuine feeling attached: be true to yourself, belie the expectations of others to forge your own destiny. Lee Hall may be recruiting universally held credos for his screenplay but it's all beautifully assembled. Even if he doesn’t fully comprehend the notion, it’s the fortitude of his own individuality that becomes of utmost importance in Billy’s world. His tenacity, however, must break through some solid walls of ignorance and prejudice to yield rewards.
The debuting Bell clearly won the role of Billy not just on his physical dexterity alone, achieved through the skills he acquired from commencing to dance at age 6. There’s a joyful lack of inhibition in his performance that infects the film, though the chain-smoking Walters is a perfect encapsulation of flinty determination with a well-concealed soft spot for her star pupil.
I have to admit a couple of emotionally charged moments I definitely didn’t foresee hit me like a freight train, achieving a semi-emasculating sense of brittleness in the process. Both involve Billy and his dad Jackie – superbly played by Gary Lewis - who although projecting a hard-as-nails, man’s man persona, is really a movingly affectionate parent. Despite the economic strain preventing their family from believing in a light that might one day lead them out of the darkness cast by the miners strike, this is a man capable of looking beyond that. Jackie will ultimately move heaven and earth just to keep that lone chance at something decent for his son from evaporating before its too late.
Billy Elliot is alternatively moving, funny, even embarrassing at times but in a healthy way. Inexplicably I missed the boat back in 2000 when it was first released but thankfully my oversight has now been corrected. Count me as a fan.
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