Borstal Boy

Seen at the Galway Film Fleadh (where this fine picture had its world premiere in July), Peter Sheridan makes an auspicious directing debut from this literary classic. It should be noted, however, that the film is "inspired by" not "based upon" the book by Brendan Behan. Wonderful performances from the entire cast including Hatosy, York,Dyer and Birthistle.

I admit to not having yet read the book on which this film is based and I'm willing to concede that the book may well be far better than the film; as alluded to in other reviews. That being said, I found this film touching, funny, controversial, unique, all those adjectives and more.

The casting of Danny Dyer as a homosexual sailor in the 1940s really shows his versatility as an actor and I believe this must have been a challenging and rewarding part. The film deals with issues that are taboo even by today's standards and although the narrative can be at times overly sentimental, these scenes are strangely refreshing and poignant.

Danny Dyer has some great lines and one hilarious scene involving a football. "Borstal Boy" is unprecedented in its approach to controversial issues and makes for a film well worth watching.

Peter Sheridan, the director of "Borstal Boy", shows a good sensibility to the material based on the life of Brendan Behan. Having only seen the play at the Lyceum theater in the 70s, it was intriguing to see what kind of adaptation it received on the screen.

The best thing in the film is the young ensemble cast gathered for the film. What comes out in the movie is how friendships made in reform camp affected Mr. Behan for life. The fact that young Brendan can get to like someone as different as Charlie, speaks volumes for tolerance for someone that comes from Brendan's background.

Shawn Hatosy does a marvelous job in his portrayal of Brendan Behan. For an American born actor, this young man clearly demonstrates a range that many of his contemporaries don't have. In the pivotal role of Charlie Milwall, Danny Dyer gives a brilliant performance. Lee Ingleby, as the cruel Dale, is perfect. Eva Birthistle, as the daughter of the warden Joyce, is the only female in a man's world and she does a great job in making the young woman come alive. Michael York has a good opportunity in the role of Joyce.

The only problem with the film is that the dialog is hard to follow, be it because of the sound track, or the heavy accents Mr. Sheridan has everyone speaking as a way to show authenticity. We watched the DVD version, and had to turn the volume to maximum, and still it sounded muffled. In spite of that flaw, "Borstal Boy" is a powerful movie that needs to be seen.

I read the book six times, and couldn't wait to see the movie. I was rather put off at first because so much of the movie is pure fiction. Charlie and Brendan only had one slight spat in their three years together in Borstal, and ended up the best of friends anyway. The young lady in the movie never existed, and much of the rest of the movie was oddly fictitious as well. Charlie Millwall was on the Southampton when it was sunk off of Malta (in the Mediterranean), but I assume they used the HMS Prince Of Wales because they had film footage dealing with the sinking of that ship, and it made a good way for Brendan to find out that Charlie was dead (far more powerful than the scene in the book and the one in the play).

Despite all of that, I loved the movie. Brendan Behan did actually say "the English can love people without them being seven feet tall or a hundred years dead." I believe he made that statement because he knew Charlie Millwall so well, and had seen many other good people among the English people with whom he was connected in one way or another. The Warden, Mr. Joyce, was a very good person, and so were many others.

I do believe that Brendan Behan had a serious relationship with Charlie Millwall (it's obvious in the book, even though it's never spelled out exactly). I would recommend the book to anyone, and believe that the movie was very good, the fictitious content nothwithstanding.

Shawn Hatosy does a very good job in the movie, and Danny Dyer is better yet. Don't miss this movie.

I got worried when the film opened with "inspired by" Borstal Boy rather than based on. This is the sort of movie that makes me wish I had a bunch of money so I could run out and start filming "Borstal Boy 2004" and actually film the story and characters that were in the book. The characters were awful and betrayed the rich characterization of the book.

Part of the problem was that the filmmaker looked back to 1942 with a 21st century perspective. For example he wanted to make Brendan sympathetic so Brendan befriended an out homosexual (in 1942) and a jew. Dale, the evil character hated both and was a self-proclaimed rapist. Darth Vader had more dimensions than Dale. I don't know if an IRA soldier from 1942 would look at Hitler, the enemy of his enemy, as being a worthy reason to suspend his fight for independence. Worst of all, Brendan acts like a 14 year old from the American suburbs with his revulsion of homosexuality. The tired message in the movie is that if you are against homosexuality then you, yourself, must be gay. For example, initially revulsed, Brendan ends up falling in love with Charlie. Dale mocks Charlies and later tries to rape Charlie. In the original story, despite being published in the 1950s, Brendan had no such trouble with homosexuals. When he found out Oscar Wilde was gay, he responded non-chalantly that everyone has their own way of doing things. he came across Charlie having sex with another boy and it was no big deal. The play of the same name (1971) did manage to hold true to the original story. This movie should have done the same.