Rating: ***1/2
The idea of seeing boys on cheerleading
squads amongst the girls is hardly new or surprising. At this point, I’m not
exactly sure how rare a thing it is to find squads made up entirely of boys. Of
course, if boys being cheerleaders was the sole preoccupation of James Newton’s
British-made documentary Boy Cheerleaders, it would be a terribly dull
affair. What’s interesting is the film’s setting, a council estate in Leeds, and the main characters,
a colourful cast of troubled boys, many of whom are being raised by single
mothers, and all of whom are finding something challenging and redeeming in the
sport of cheerleading.
What’s interesting about the film is not
that so many of the boys take it on the chin from their school chums that
they’re into cheerleading, or even the fact that they’re working class boys
that like to dance while waving pom-poms. What’s interesting is that it seems
that cheerleading is one of the only things that can reach them. These boys so
often drift into fighting and other forms of acting out, they’re indifferent to
authority of any kind, but absolutely live to dance. There’s a great scene
where one of the boys is forced to take a time-out from cheerleading after some
particularly unruly behaviour. His disappointment, and his penance, eventually
allow him back in, but it’s interesting watching him try and deny that he’s
really missing something by not being allowed to cheerlead.
The film flows very naturally. It follows
Coach Ian Rodley as he tries to galvanize the boys to become the tops in their
field, and not just as boy cheerleaders, but for all cheerleaders. There’s a
stop on a popular British talk show along the way, and an important audition
for one of the boys that could lead to a possible future as a professional
dancer. Obviously, the film comes down to the championships and whether or not
the boys will rank. Whether they do or do not is superfluous to the fact that
you can just lean back and have a good time watching this documentary. It’s
like Billy Elliot, but with a bunch of Billys and it’s a documentary.
What’s not to love?
