BILLY ELLIOT

 

THREE STARS - Thoughtful

 

 

       How many of us remember the moment in our childhood when we realized that we had disappointed our parents?  Was there ever a point where you wished that your parents loved you without question?

       "Billy Elliot" (Jamie Bell) is the remarkably talented eleven year old son of a coal miner living in a working class ghetto in northern England.  Billy's "Dad" (Gary Lewis III), is widowed and caring for the family, including Billy's brother Tony (Jamie Draven).  Tony has followed in his father's footsteps and works along side him in the mines.

       However, in the emotionally debilitating strain of a bitter and prolonged coal workers strike, Dad and Tony are torn apart.  Wanting his other young son Billy to become tough like him, Dad sends Billy to Boxing School.  Fearing that Billy might not become tough enough, he indulges in intimidation as the method to rebuild his son in his own image.  His notion of "tough love" is to never express love to him at all.

       Dad must now come face to face with his own pride, a pride which separates him from his sons.  In too many parent-child relationships, it is this sin of pride which keeps either side from truly loving each other where they are in their life.  Billy longs for his father to love him, and his dad longs for his son's adulation to justify his fighting spirit.  This pride, passed down from father to son, fractures every relationship in the family.

       Then, from outside the family, comes Mrs. Wilkenson (Julie Walters) who is the ballet teacher at the local community center.  Billy is mesmerized by the grace and beauty of the dance, but also painfully aware that his father would consider this activity a "sissy" girl’s pastime.  Nevertheless, Billy is captivated by its creative expression, and Mrs. Wilkenson becomes the first woman in his life to give him hope and encouragement.

       Blessed with an uncommon talent, Billy takes to the dance through struggle, growth, and maturity.  Mrs. Wilkenson sees such potential in young Billy that she wants to advance his education to the Royal Ballet School in London.

       As could be predicted, Billy's dad and his coal miner friends find this personal choice to be unmanly, and seek to crush his spirit.  But it is here that a greater transformation takes place in the father than in the son.

       Billy's dad, for the first time, sees the talent and innocent determination in his son's heart and he has to make a choice.  Does he support his son, which will require a supreme sacrifice?  Or, does he continue to deny his son and demand what he wants?

       Without giving away what happens next, the story reveals a spiritually healing tale of a father's emerging sacrificial love for his son.  This is a love which has the power to heal his relationships with everyone else in his family as well.

       When his father's pride is broken, it paves the path for his son to walk into his own life freely.  And, as a lesson to us all, it also opens the door to end the bitter struggles going on in the other points in his life.  This is the true love that Billy needs to experience in order to survive and thrive as the talent he proves to be.

 

(552 words)

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