|
BILLY ELLIOT Send This Review to a Friend
When Jamie Bell playing 11-year-old Billy Elliot breaks into free-form dancing both he and the film itself soar with the passion of free expression, and when he modestly tells what it feels like when he dances to judges who will decide whether he'll be accepted into training with the Royal Ballet in London, the moment is so poignant that his entire future appears to hang in the balance.
There are many such powerful moments in the absolutely engaging "Billy Elliot," a film previewed at the Toronto International Film Festival. Intelligently written by Lee Hall and compassionately directed by Stephen Daldry , the drama takes root in the hopes and dreams of a boy in a northern England mining town. His dad, hurting from being out on strike and having suffered the loss of his wife, abusively verges on brutality in his treatment of Billy and scoffs at the lad's inclination toward the dance, which he views as effeminate. Gary Lewis's affecting acting in the role eventually makes the father sympathetic as he overcomes his hostility, gets more in touch with his humanity and tries to help Billy achieve his aim. There is a wrenching scene in which Billy's father is ready to become a scab and cross the picket line in order to earn money to help Billy.
Another distinguished performance comes from Julie Walters as Mrs. Wilkinson, a local dance teacher who makes Billy her special project. But overall, this is very much Jamie Bell's film. He is likable and touching as Billy, and although looking a mite too old for Billy's age, he wipes away such doubts with a performance that takes flight and can be identified with the ache of all who start out in life with strikes against them yet yearn for a brighter future in which they can find their true calling.
In short, "Billy Elliot" scores as one of the best films of the year 2000. A Universal Pictures release.
|