Best British film of the year, easily

Rating: Null/10 (11 October 2000)

I was very sceptical about this film, ever since I heard about it at Cannes. A feel-good film? About a ballet dancer? With a miner father on strike? Julie Walters as a ballet teacher? I sneered, and predicted the film would completely flop, fail, crash and burn. After all, I arrogantly predicted, nobody wanted to see another Kes, or any other 'My God, it's grim oop North' film of which Ken Loach is the undisputed master. That, of course, is not a good thing. What is a good thing is that in its first minute, Billy Elliot shows more visual imagination than any Ken Loach film ever made. We are introduced to the eponymous hero (?) jumping up and down, listening to T-Rex. It is a completely joyful image; it is unpretentious, funny and affecting all at the same time. The final scene ends with the same image (and, no, I'm not going to say how it ends, but you'll be satisfied). It's all about a boy who wants to be a ballet dancer. Fair enough. While that might sound a fairly anodyne plot- Flashdance relocated to the UK- the ballet dancing was, for me at least, subsidiary to the main point; namely, that Billy is trapped in a repressive, patriachal society, and that only his talent can give him a real chance at life. It's reminiscent of Good Will Hunting, but without Robin Williams. Which can only be a good thing. Jamie Bell is so good in this film it almost hurts. He's not good in a sort of 'wow, watch the child actor act' way; he's good in that he makes you completely believe in his character, giving him the kind of emotional depth and feeling that most adult actors would simply fail to convey. If Warner Bros had had any sense at all, they'd have cast him as Harry Potter, with Terry Gilliam or David Fincher directing. Imagine just how brilliant that would have been. Gary Lewis is good too, as the father. The stereotype in this sort of film is of the abusive, violent, drunken father, but Lewis doesn't do that. Instead, he plays the part as a man who wants to do the best possible thing for his son, even, at one heartbreaking point (minor spoiler) breaking the miner's pickets and going to work so that Billy can go to his audition for the Royal Ballet school. Julie Walters isn't too bad as the dancing teacher- I say that as someone who has avoided films with her in in the past- and most of the cast is good. Stephen Daldry, who directed the film, must be feeling pretty confident that, like his mate Sam Mendes, he has transcended his theatrical background to make a real film, not just a filmed stage play. He is my tip to win best director at the BAFTAs next year (not the Oscars- that's Ridley Scott for Gladiator). He deserves it richly. Go and see this film. 10/10