Billy Elliot: Special Edition Review

There’s trouble down t’ pit. And when t’ men are out on picket lines and t’ riot police are polishing up their truncheons, we all know that a young boy’s thoughts naturally turn to tippy toes, tights and tu-tus. Leastwise, ’appen as our Billy’s do.

Now his father reckons ’e’s down local town hall taking boxing lessons, but one evenin’ right, just for a laugh, ’e joins t’ ballet class that’s been forced to share t’ gym ’cos miners are using their room as a soup kitchen. But it turns it out ’e’s a crackin’ little dancer and ’is teacher wants ’im to audition for the Royal Ballet School. But ’is father and ’is brother don’t want a proto-pooftah in t’ family and they’re ’avin’ nowt to do with it when they find out.

Which leaves poor Billy tryin’ to cope with frustrated ambition, a best friend who’s a closet transvestite in training and a love struck school girl who wants to show ’im ’er fanny.

More than any other country in the world British cinema seems to excel at middle brow culture. Billy Elliot is another superb example of this, in fact it’s probably a classic in the making for the ‘ever-so-slightly-cultural feel good movie’ genre. While the film makes no attempt to explore the social and political issues surrounding the backdrop of the strike, it does show the nobility and the solidarity of the striking community and also the brutality of the forces of state oppression. The central performances from Julie Walters as Billy’s teacher, Gary Lewis as his father and especially Jamie Bell as Billy really could not be improved upon and coupled with an intelligent script and deft direction make this one film you can’t afford to miss.