New British Classic

Rating: 9/10 (28 September 2000)

I went to see Billy Elliot last night. I had some free time and was offered tickets for an advanced preview. I went into the cinema with few hopes or expectations but I left with feelings of great astonishment.
The film is not just another coming of age film like so many others in film history, but it sets the simple story of a boys hopes and desires against the backdrop of the 1984 miners strike.
The director Stephen Daldry has produced an amazing film. Billys love affair with the ballet is starkly contrasted with rugged surroundings of the North Eastern Mining community.
It wouldn't be right to finish this review without mentioning two key points of the film. First the soundtrack combines elegance of classic ballet music with a funky T rex soundtrack. The second point is the amazing performance of Julie Walters. It is not just with her physical presence as the undersexed, sharp tongued Mrs Wilkinson that Miss Walters fulfills this role but also with the emotional undercurrent that is so important here.
A true British classic