Billy Elliot is a British drama that is directed by Stephen Daldry and written by Lee Hall. The film was released in 2000 and has won a lot for awards and nominations. The film is set in 1984 in a mining village in County Durham in north east England. Billy lives in a neighborhood with brick houses and green fields. Billy Elliot is a film about an 11-year old boy that lives with his older brother, father and grandmother. His brother and father are mineworkers, but they are currently on strike. Billy goes to boxing by his father’s recommendation even though he doesn’t want to.
Instead, he begins to dance ballet with the girls in the hall right besides the boxing lessons. When Billy’s brother and father finds out he is dancing ballet instead of boxing, they get frustrated and forbids Billy to dance ballet again. But Billy and the ballet teacher Mrs. Wilkinson won’t let go so easy. Billy is an 11-years old boy. He has inherited boxing gloves from his grandfather and he is expected to do boxing and become a mineworker. But Billy breaks his social heritage and tries to become a ballet dancer instead which he succeeds with. Jackie is Billy’s father and a mineworker.
He is on a strike, but he is struggling to live with no income. His wife has passed away and after seeing Billy dance he wants to help him fulfill his son’s dream. Tony is Billy’s older brother and is also mineworker like his father. He is very hard on Billy and he can’t stand that Billy is dancing ballet. He strikes also every day. Grandma is Billy’s grandmother. She used to go to ballet when she was a young girl. She doesn’t remember so much from her earlier days, but she supports Billy with his ballet. The language, the family use is filled with swearing.
Their way of speaking is very low class and that is making the family a bit tougher and rougher. It also indicates that it is the hard core of England we are dealing with and the family has to stick to together. One of the themes in the film is violence. The miners are on strike and they fight with the police throughout the film. We see how the police are armed with weapons and shields so they can fight back the mineworkers. And one of the major themes is change. Billy is breaking his social heritage and changing from being a potential miner to a ballet dancer.
The message the film is sending is to fulfill you own dream, follow your heart and never give up on that. Billy’s whole family is being trapped. His brother and father are trapped because of the bad working conditions and they need to strike with all the other mineworkers. They are trapped with no income. At the same time Billy is suppressed by his brother and father because they don’t like him dancing ballet and wants him to box instead. But Billy gets out of his trap because his father and brother begin to accept him dancing ballet. And Billy needed that support to fulfill his dream.
