Billy Elliot
Composite Score: 86.4
Starring: Jamie Bell, Julie Walters, Jean Heywood, Jamie Draven, Gary Lewis, Stuart Wells, Mike Elliot, Billy Fane, and Nicola Blackwell
Director: Stephen Daldry
Writer: Lee Hall
Genres: Drama, Music, Coming-of-Age
MPAA Rating: R for language
Box Office: $109.28 million worldwide
My take on Watching This Film:
Billy Elliot is the Stephen Daldry-Lee Hall collaboration film about a boy coming of age in England during the 1984-85 Miners’ Strike, torn between his love for his family and his newfound passion for ballet dancing. Jamie Bell stars as the titular adolescent, joined by Julie Walters as his ballet teacher Sandra Wilkinson, Gary Lewis as his dad Jackie, Jamie Draven as his brother Tony, Jean Heywood as his grandma, and Stewart Wells as his best friend Michael Caffrey. Daldry received an Oscar nomination for Best Director, Hall for Best Original Screenplay, and Walters was nominated for Best Supporting Actress at that year’s Academy Awards. The film continues to be celebrated for its diverse array of themes, feel-good sensibilities, and phenomenal performances.
Without the stellar central trio of actors playing the film’s main characters, it can’t succeed as well as it does and ends up being more like one of those feel-good B-movies that get played on Lifetime and Hallmark when they’ve run out of originals. Instead, Bell, Walters, and Lewis instill a grounded sense of realism to this delightful and heavy film. Lewis plays one of the most nuanced father figures in recent history, growing and developing rather than remaining stuck in his ways, but always believably and with plenty of reasoning behind each of his decisions. He has some moments of brilliance here, especially at a point toward the back half of the film where his love for both of his sons and their passions seems to be breaking him and his family apart – it’s fantastic. Obviously, Julie Walters received a nomination at just about every awards show (and win at the BAFTAs) for her portrayal of Mrs. Wilkinson, and it’s easy to see why. She plays this rugged motherly figure brilliantly, mixing tenderness with tough love without ever losing her own identity in the drive to help Billy achieve his goals. For me, though, it was Jamie Bell’s BAFTA-winning and SAG-nominated lead performance that carries the film for me. It’s an authentic coming-of-age performance, grounded in angst, rebellion, love, and curiosity, that fully makes this film a success. He plays a complex and imperfect character almost perfectly, and it’s a shame that he couldn’t edge out either Javier Bardem for Before Night Falls or Geoffrey Rush for Quills for that Oscar nomination.
Billy Elliot’s script also goes a long way in making those characters and the film a success, framing the story in such a way that we never lose sight of the character study at its center but also get to explore quite a few complex themes along the way without missing the mark. From its examination of strikes, police brutality, gender norms, homosexuality, friendship, family, growing up, and socioeconomic divides to its brilliant dance numbers to the banging soundtrack, each piece of the film’s story, presentation, and dialogue works together to create a more complex tapestry than most films today even dream of trying to be. It’s refreshing to see a film that bites off seemingly more than it should be able to chew still handle what it’s chosen to tackle and keep its characters at the center.
The characters and story of Billy Elliot, portrayed excellently by its leading cast, turn this coming-of-age tale into something even more universal and topical and earn this film a place among the greats. Some might take issue with the sheer volume of themes that the film tries to tackle, but I’d argue that, by keeping its characters at the fore, those supporting themes never feel overpowering or out of place. If you’d like to watch this film anytime soon, you can stream it on Peacock for the near future.
