In the end of the 50's and the beginning of the 60's there was a wave of "Kitchen sink" films in England. These films are set in a working-class environment and are often located in Northern England. Not only are working man the main protagonists in these films, the film often also takes their side. Laborers are seen as the victims of the capitalist system. Important directors are Tony Richardson ("Look back in anger" (1959) and "A taste of honey" (1961)) and Lindsay Anderson ("This sporting life", (1963)).
In the '80s the Thatcher era seems to provide a vertile soil for Kitchen sink type of movies, but only a director as Stephen Frears made them. Today, in the gig economy, we have Ken Loach who is still going strong with movies such as "Sorry, we missed you" (2019) and "I, Daniel Blake" (2016).
Stephan Daldry ("The Reader", 2008) is not a typical "Kitchen sink" director and he made his film about the England of Margaret Thatcher only in 2000. Nevertheless "Billy Elliot" is a kitchen sink film, and not a bad one. It plays in Northern England in 1984. It is the time of the coal mine strikes (Arthur Scargill versus Margaret Thatcher). There are beautiful images of industrial landscapes and working class neighborhoods.
One of the strongest points of "Billy Elliot" is that it has a working class setting, but it does not idealize the characters (as Ken Loach tends to do in the above mentioned pictures). They are not only honest people who are the victims of a cruel system, they have faults of their own. In "Billy Elliot" there is a macho culture, in which introverted people with an unusual hobby not always have an easy life. Billy's preference of ballet above boxing is frowned upon by his father and his older brother.
The struggle of Billy in defence of his passion makes for a fascinating picture. The U-turn the character of his father makes towards the (happy) end is however not entirely credible. In my opinion this is the weak spot of this movie. Ken Loach, whom I accused of idealizing laborers in "Sorry, we missed you" and "I, Daniel Blake", did a better job in "Kes" (1969).
In the '80s the Thatcher era seems to provide a vertile soil for Kitchen sink type of movies, but only a director as Stephen Frears made them. Today, in the gig economy, we have Ken Loach who is still going strong with movies such as "Sorry, we missed you" (2019) and "I, Daniel Blake" (2016).
Stephan Daldry ("The Reader", 2008) is not a typical "Kitchen sink" director and he made his film about the England of Margaret Thatcher only in 2000. Nevertheless "Billy Elliot" is a kitchen sink film, and not a bad one. It plays in Northern England in 1984. It is the time of the coal mine strikes (Arthur Scargill versus Margaret Thatcher). There are beautiful images of industrial landscapes and working class neighborhoods.
One of the strongest points of "Billy Elliot" is that it has a working class setting, but it does not idealize the characters (as Ken Loach tends to do in the above mentioned pictures). They are not only honest people who are the victims of a cruel system, they have faults of their own. In "Billy Elliot" there is a macho culture, in which introverted people with an unusual hobby not always have an easy life. Billy's preference of ballet above boxing is frowned upon by his father and his older brother.
The struggle of Billy in defence of his passion makes for a fascinating picture. The U-turn the character of his father makes towards the (happy) end is however not entirely credible. In my opinion this is the weak spot of this movie. Ken Loach, whom I accused of idealizing laborers in "Sorry, we missed you" and "I, Daniel Blake", did a better job in "Kes" (1969).