Member review

Billy Elliott is a film based on a boy who wants to become a professional dancer. However, he is bought up in a time and from a place that considers such activities to be carried out by either women or homosexuals, which were under extreme prejudice. The story follows Billy on his way to becoming dancer, despite his family struggling financially due to the immense cuts to mines in Durham where the movie is set.

The story reinforces the idea of British Values as it is heavily concentrated on Billy’s father’s acceptance of what his son wants to do with his life. He gives Billy the freedom to choose his own path and his won future and supports him no matter what the cost. This is relevant as one of the listed British values is titled ‘Respect and Tolerance’ in which we should all tackle stereotypes and prejudices in order to allow yourself to feel free in whatever we chose to do in our lives.

I would recommend this film to others as I believe we can all learn lessons from it. It shows is despite all the obstacles that we face and no matter who you are and where you come from, anything is possible. It is also an interesting film from a filmmaker standpoint. It tells the story the a wide range of enticing editorial and cinematic techniques including a montage of billy learning to pirouette.