British drama about a young boy in north-eastern England who learns to dance the ballet in the face of momentous difficulties. This movie features all the clichés you would expect it to: the coal-mine-working father who wants his son to like boxing, the mean and chainsmoking ballet teacher with a heart of gold and the elder brother who gets in trouble by fighting the police.
Billy Elliot made in the year 2000, was directed by previously unproven director Stephen Daldry and written by Lee Hall. The title role is played admirably by Jamie Bell, and in other roles we see Julie Walters, Jamie Draven and Gary Lewis III. The movie and its soundtrack have a distinctly rock character despite all the ballet, featuring tracks by The Clash, T-Rex, The Jam and Eagle-eye Cherry.
It might be good to add that the main character, who is supposedly a genious of ballet, dances in a way that my ballet-scholarship friend referred to as "laughable". Hey... it sure fooled me.