Billy Elliot

For 11-year-old Billy Elliot, growing up in his blue-collar Northern England town is anything but cheeky. The sun never shines, his family is crammed into a tiny flat, and his widowed father (Gary Lewis) is extremely bitter over the strike being held by his fellow mine workers (this is the real-life miners' strike of 1984 that ended in disaster for so many working class people). He insists that Billy train to be a boxer, but Billy is more influenced by the likes of Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly than he is by Joe Louis and Muhammad Ali. He discovers he has a talent for ballet, but as far as his friends and family are concerned, ballet is for a bunch of "sissies." That's when the local dance instructor (Julie Walters) takes him under her wing, and Billy goes behind his family's back to realize his dreams of becoming a dancer.

On the surface, Billy Elliot could best be described as The Full Monty meets Footloose (heck, the kid even looks like a young Kevin Bacon), but with a little bit of The Shawshank Redemption thrown in for good measure. The blue-collar atmosphere that's found here makes comparisons to The Full Monty inevitable. And like the main character in Footloose, Billy is brimming with a barely contained energy that's just waiting to break out so that he can be accepted for who he is. Then there's Shawshank's message of never losing hope, which is ultimately what drives Billy to persevere.

What's even more incredible is the movie's similarity to the recent Sundance Film Festival favorite Girlfight. In that film, Michelle Rodriguez's character goes behind her abusive father's back to pursue her dreams of becoming a boxer. She has a pent up rage and sees the ring as the only place to express herself, while Billy goes in the other direction, using the dance floor as his way to connect with his passion. In both cases, the "be true to yourself" message rings out loud and clear.

Billy Elliot is the third film in three months to feature striking workers as the backdrop to its story (after the The Replacements back in August and Human Resources in September), and the film comes along just as the strike by the Screen Actors Guild against commercial advertisers is turning into the longest strike in Hollywood history. The intensity with which Billy's father maintains his dignity among his co-workers while he tries to do what's right for his family is truly powerful, especially when he goes from being one of the picketers to crossing the picket line himself.

In 1999's The Sixth Sense, Haley Joel Osment gave one of the best child performances of the year, but this time around, it's Jamie Bell. He's like a bird who's ready to fly, but he's trapped inside a tiny cage. Only by going behind his father's back is he able to indulge in his passion, and his liberation, freedom, and happiness are infectious in what are undoubtedly some of the most vibrant and powerful scenes of the film. He strikes an unusual relationship with the always excellent Julie Walters, who plays his dance instructor, and very soon she begins to take the place of his dead mother.

Despite moments of contrived melodrama, Billy Elliot is able to overcome stereotypical "follow your dream" cliches to end up as a remarkably moving, heartwarming, and irresistible coming-of-age story. The final scene effectively wraps up the film with one of the most powerful closing images in recent memory. After years of living in a dirty pond, this ugly duckling is finally given the chance to spread his wings and fly.