There are lots of random movies that I adore. Like...I could watch them over and over again and generally do whenever I run into them on television. "Billy Elliot" is one of those movies. I ADORE that movie and it just makes me smile and smile and smile.
See...Billy didn't come from the sort of family who even knew what the ballet was. In fact...when questioned about why he loves ballet during his interview...he's honest when he tells them that he doesn't know how he even got interested in it in the first place.
In kind of a quaint manner.
See...Billy 'nem were working class poor and couldn't really see anything past their working class poor little town. His father was a widower and his brother worked in the coal mines with his father. The coal mines treated them all like crap and so they had to strike to try and get some rights and whatnot.
Well...as you can tell these men are like super macho. Super macho men don't dance. So yeah...there was some initial push back about Billy dancing.
The person in the movie who really stood out to me was Billy's father. Dude was seriously just quiet and strong. He was real, real regular and saw his life as this bleak kinda existence where he simply did what he had to do to live. There were no luxuries. Only hard, back breaking work and surviving day to day.
He was quiet. Didn't say a lot during the entire movie but when he did speak...he let himself be heard.
And he heard his child even when his child wasn't speaking.
He couldn't fathom his youngest son doing anything other than what all the men in their working class poor town did and yet...instead of holding steadfast to that belief, instead of dismissing his son's talent, instead of blocking his son's opportunity to do better because of some form of jealousy...dude went there for his son. They took a chance on Billy's future and Billy took that opportunity and made something of himself. He became a famous ballet dancer. All macho with it too.
I think that is so boss that his father figured out how to believe in his child even though he didn't have anything to compare the risk to. He did what a father SHOULD do. He afforded his child the opportunity and his child took that opportunity and soared with it.
SO.DAMN.HOT.
I think about stuff like that all the time. How sometimes...all people need is someone to believe in them and offer them support and there is truly nothing they can't accomplish if they put in the work. We can find that support as children and soar or find it as adults and soar later in life. It's never too late you know...but...just think about how far you could have flown had your flight started earlier in life and the majority of your life built around learning your craft instead of beating down the desire as you simply learned to survive.
The scene where Billy's father is running to tell everyone the news completely fills my heart with joy every.single.time. The thought of a parent sacrificing so their child can follow their dreams and those dreams coming to fruition being such a vehicle of happiness is just...just...
Well...it's just...
So hot.
Did you have that? Are you giving your children that?