Great but for the boom

Rating: Null/10 (18 January 2001)

I live in NY but I am originally from England. I knew policemen and I knew coal miners, and this film really tugged at my heart strings to see how Billy's family were divided by the strike. Father against brother, brother against brother. It was a true depiction of the British Governments "divide and conquer" policy in action. When Billy's father had to burn his dead wife's piano to have heat for Christmas, only to sit there sobbing while it burned, my heart yearned. This was a story of escapism, something like that of Educating Rita or Shirley Valantine. I liked it a lot. It had a subtle comment on gender bending and sexual identity from a child's point of view, without being uncomfortable, which is unusual. Jamie Bell was excellent and so was Julie Walters.
My only problem with the film was a scene where Walters and Bell were in a gym talking and a boom microphone dropped into the shot about ten inches. It happened again later on in the movie and I couldn't believe it. The film was shot so well and then a boom mic comes into view and gets through the editing process. Apart from that, I give it. 8 out of 10