A young boy's desire for the grandest passion of them all

Rating: Null/10 (23 February 2003)

Spoilers ahead!!!
Dance for some is the ultimate expression of love, passion, and life. For eleven year old Billy Elliot, dancing is everything. This is a film that shows you totally that no matter what your dream is, it's always within reach.
Set in England during the miner's strike of 1984, Billy Elliot (Jamie Bell) is the story of a young, quiet boy who wants to be a ballet dancer so bad that in essence his desire is killing him. Dance to him is like the dreams of some young boys his age wanting to be sports heroes when they grow up. He lies to his family in order that he can continue taking lessons secretly from Mrs. Wilkinson (Julie Walters), the neighborhood dance instructor who teaches a ballet class at the community center that Billy stumbles upon after his boxing practice one day. From there, the story progresses and we see the effect that Billy's dreams and goals have upon his father, older brother and grandmother who always keeps reminding us that "I could have been a professional dancer once."
The main impact of this film lies within its dynamic bravura performance given by Jamie Bell, who in my opinion was sorely overlooked for an Academy Award that year (2000). Jamie's Billy touches all of us and makes us confront out innermost dreams and longings for our passions. Not to be forgotten is Julie Walter's turn as the chain-smoking ballet teacher who has no other life besides teaching young Margot Fonteyns and Nijinskys. Her performance is believable but yet still could have been turned out a bit more. We, for one, never got to see what happened to her at the film's conclusion. Simply, she continues on with teaching the young hopefuls, probably never again to have a student like Billy Elliot in her midst ever again.
All in all, a great film for anyone who's ever been told that their dreams are out of their reach.
Reach for the stars!
My rating: 4 stars