Reviews

The young boy in the title role of this film shares a similar history to the eponymous hero - a working class boy from a pit village who harbours a dream of becoming a ballet dancer. This shared background may have contributed to his completely natural performance.Anyone who has witnessed the psychological growing pains of young teenage boys will recognise and respond to the scenes where Billy struggles to express his feelings or shrugs off the clumsy attempts of adults to connect with his world.Unlike 'Brassed off', where the setting of the miners strike threatens to submerge the more personal dramas,the context serves to explain the struggles of the family without condoning, or patronising,the choices they make.

The film plays on every emotion (I got through a lot of hankies) but never descends into mawkishness - though there were a couple of occasions when it teetered on the edge.Julie Walters is excellent as the ballet teacher but the finest performances come from Jamie Bell as Billy and Gary Lewis who is absolutely magnificent as the father whose whole raison d'etre is turned upside down.

This film is likely to rank amongst the very finest of those heart warming 'Gritty Northern' films such as Kes and, of course, the Full Monty.

Although the context for this film is the political tension surrounding the introduction of the 35 working week, the soul of the film lies in the relationship between father and son and its power to evoke folk memories of other, epic, generational struggles.This power comes not so much from what is said but from what is NOT said - looks, gestures, silences.This makes it sound as though the film is ponderous but it isn't: the context makes sure that there's plenty of action and there is a lightness of touch in the family scenes.The two struggles ( familial and political)are perfectly intertwined with each adding meaning to the other.The Human Resources of the title therefore refers not just the rather inhuman term for personnel management - but also to the resources which father and son find within themselves to cope with their respective situations.

There is a naturalness about the location, the setting and the pace that makes this film a refreshing change from Hollywood High Tech. It is well worth seeing.