Absolutely stunned

Rating: 7/10 (4 December 2000)

Billy Elliot is the story of a young lad from the North-East of England in the early 1980s whose Mother has passed away and is being brought up by his Father & Brother. Both are Miners involved in the strikes. Beyond that, I advise you to go and see it yourself!
Slow at the start, but once into the meat and bones of the story you set off on an emotional rollercoaster. Incredibly poignant scenes are immediately followed by brazen comic sequences. The fruity language throughout helps with the realism as you feel that in other hands, this could've been Disney material.
As I was growing up at a similar time, a lot of this rings true, and lots of childhood memories came flooding back (some nice, some long forgotten) and I was a gibbering wreck by the end.
There are plenty of amazing characters in this, from the hothead brother, the senile Gran and the effeminate boy down the road who has a paricularly soft spot for Billy.
Absolutely stunning. If you like this, then I recommend The Straight Story, the only film of recent years to have a similar emotional effect on me.