Billy Elliot Plot

Billy Elliot is a 2000 film written by Lee Hall and directed by Stephen Daldry. Set in the fictional town of 'Everington' in the real County Durham, it stars Jamie Bell as 11 year old Billy, an aspiring dancer, Gary Lewis as his coal miner father, Jamie Draven as Billy's older brother, and Julie Walters as his dance instructor.

Tagline: Inside every one of us is a special talent waiting to come out. The trick is finding it.

Billy's mother had died when Billy was younger, and his father, an admirer of real life world boxing champion Ken Buchanan, has dreams that Billy could help the family out of their economic situation by becoming a boxer. Billy, however, is more interested in music, a passion he inherited from his late mother, and he sometimes plays her piano when he feels he needs her by his side.

Billy is taken to the boxing gym by his father, but he finds out that he doesn't really like the idea of boxing once he steps into the ring for the first time. One day, he discovers that part of the boxing gym is used by a ballet school. He seeks the dance instructor's help and secretly starts taking ballet class.

The plot is set against the backdrop of the 1984 miners' strike. When the miners of County Durham, including Billy's father and brother, go on strike, their economic situation grows worse. The family and their small town in general suffer many confrontations with the police.

As a consequence of the riots, Billy has to miss several days of dancing school, and his teacher, not knowing that Billy kept the classes secret from his family, goes to his house and tells his father that he had missed an important audition for the Royal Ballet School. Upon finding out about Billy taking ballet class, Billy's father and brother become enraged and start expressing some views that could be interpreted as both machista and homophobic. But Billy proves to be determined and keeps on dancing with every chance he gets.

Having seen Billy dance for the first time, his father realizes that dancing might be his son's future, and he decides to take him to an audition in London himself. Billy has never been far from his home town, and he and his father are awestruck by the size of London. The school fees are paid for by selling as many valubles as the local community can find and Billy feels that the audition went badly; frustrated at these two facts Billy starts a fight with a boy from a rich background, but is still accepted by the ballet school because of the situation and the strength of his commitment to dancing.

The movie concludes with a scene that takes place in the present day, where his father and brother are sitting at the ballet concert waiting for Billy's performance to begin. They find themselves sitting next to Michael, Billy's childhood friend, who is there with his boyfriend to see Billy perform in Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake. The film ends as Billy takes the stage in a final leap.

The soundtrack includes several well-known rock and punk rock songs:

"Cosmic Dancer" - T. Rex
"Get It On (Bang a Gong)" - T. Rex
"Town Called Malice" - The Jam
"I Love To Boogie" - T. Rex
"London Calling" - The Clash
"Children Of The Revolution" - T. Rex
"Shout To The Top" - The Style Council
"Walls Come Tumbling Down" - The Style Council
"Ride A White Swan" - T. Rex