Billy Elliot DVD > Reviews > BEST BRITISH FILM IN YEARS

Author's product rating:   

Did you enjoy it?	Loved it
Story	Outstanding
Characters / Performances	Outstanding
Special Effects	Standard
How does it compare to similar films?	Outstanding

Advantages:	Brilliant film and its British !  Superb acting, superb soundtrack .
Disadvantages:	NONE

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Good British films come in several forms. There is the East End "hard man" cockney gangster flick e.g. Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Circus, Gangster No.1, etc. Then we have the dopey and simple comedy that often stars Hugh Grant (Bridget Jones Diary, Four Weddings and a Funeral, any other Hugh Grant movie…) Lastly we come to the comedy/drama category set in working class Northern England. In this category we've seen the Full Monty, East is East and most recently Billy Elliot.

When I first heard about Billy Elliot I was not particularly keen to see it - I mean, I am not exactly a fan of ballet. But when I finally did get around to seeing Billy Elliot I was extremely glad that I had seen it.

Billy Elliot is set in 1984 County Durham during the Miners Strike. The Miners Strike which was probably the most significant event in post-WWII Britain plays a fairly big part in the film.

Billy Elliot is a 11 year old from a working class miners family, when his union leader dad sends Billy to boxing lessons after school Billy swiftly learns that he has little talent in the sport of boxing. Billy instead becomes sidetracked from boxing into ballet lessons that are held in the same location as the boxing lessons.

It quickly emerges that Billy is extremely talented at ballet. However, according to his dad and brother ballet is purely for girls and for gays. When Billy's father discovers that Billy does ballet he is furious and he tries to stop Billy from doing ballet. Billy's dance teacher excellently played by the Oscar Nominated Julie Walters goes out of her way to help Billy, she recognizes his talent and potential. Her character however isn't particularly warm but she is a real, genuine person.

Jamie Bell who plays Billy demonstrates his enormous acting ability in this film and he will definitely go on to be one of Britain's top actors. Whether he will make it in Hollywood is a little debatable as he slammed American films and American actors branding American films as "cheesy" and American actors as "false". If you look at the big Hollywood studios his comments may be justified however Britain have churned out some pretty terrible actors; just look at the Harry Potter movie, Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter) cannot act to save his life - he is frankly wooden and sounds as if he is auditioning for Neighbours.

Billy Elliot is a feel-good film however it does not have the cheesiness of a Hollywood feel-good film. The characters are real and genuine, the dance teacher (Julie Walters) is not a saint trying to change the world just an ordinary person.

The acting in Billy Elliot is superb with excellent performances from Jamie Bell (Billy), Julie Walters (Dance teacher) and Gary Lewis (Billy's dad). Billy Elliot received 13 well deserved BAFTA nominations and 3 Academy Award nominations.

The soundtrack is absolutely superb, a lot of T-Rex songs are included but for me the best song on the soundtrack is "I Believe". There are two albums of the soundtrack out, the best one being the "enhanced" version which is only available on import. If you buy the soundtrack album of Billy Elliot make sure to get the enhanced import version.

Billy Elliot was the debut feature film of director Stephen Daldry, though he is no newbie to directing with loads of theatre productions under his belt.

Overall Billy Elliot is a superb film, it is a tremendous credit to the British film industry. If only all British films were as good as Billy Elliot…