News-Journal Film Critic Ballet is more than outstretched arms and twirling thighs. Screenwriter Lee Hall drew from bits and pieces of his own past, setting the story in 1984 in Northern England, where a long and bitter strike by coal miners divided communities, friends and families. Daily clashes between police and pickets virtually drip with venom.
Acrimony spills over into the daily lives of wageless miners and their families.
One day, a ballet class arrives at the other end of the gymnasium. None of that, however, has the impact of his father and brother discovering that Billy has kayoed boxing in favor of ballet. There's a physical impact as both father and older brother explode. Innumerable deep issues, from guilt over being unable to provide for their family, to Billy breaking a boxing tradition, to concern about his masculinity, and a distrust of culture that is foreign to them, all rise to the surface like bubbles. Despite orders to hang up his ballet shoes, Billy sneaks off to continue his studies.