Borstal Boy (2000)

User Rating:

6.8/10   

Director:

Peter Sheridan

Writers:

Brendan Behan (book)
Nye Heron (writer)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Tagline:

In 1942, acclaimed Irish poet Brendan Behan was sent to a reform school. What he learned was that love knows no prison.

Plot:

Irish writer and political activist Brendan Behan, is befriended as a teenager in a British labor camp by a liberal warden.

Plot Keywords:

Camp | Labor Camp | Gay Love | Gay Kiss | Sexuality

Awards:

1 win & 4 nominations

Cast

Shawn Hatosy	...	Brendan Behan
Danny Dyer	...	Charlie Milwall
Lee Ingleby	...	Dale
Robin Laing	...	Jock
Eva Birthistle	...	Liz Joyce
Michael York	...	Joyce
Mark Huberman	...	Mac
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Jim Byrne	...	Parson
Garret Deady	...	Borstal Boy
Darren Donohue	...	Borstal Boy
Ronnie Drew	...	Customs Man
William Fitzpatrick	...	Borstal Boy
Luke Griffin	...	Miller
Trevor Hanly	...	Soldier
Lukas Hassel	...	Hassel (as Klaus Hassel)
Luke Hayden	...	Alex
Patricia Levento	...	Landlady
Ian McElhinney	...	Verreker
Keith Murtagh	...	Borstal Boy
Viko Nikci	...	Jerzy
Jer O'Leary	...	Republican in Court
John O'Toole	...	Whitbread
Arthur Riordan	...	Librarian
Owen Sharpe	...	Albert
Eoin Slattery	...	James

Runtime:

Italy:93 min

Country:

UK | Ireland

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Australia:M

Filming Locations:

Dublin, County Dublin, Ireland

Company:

British Screen Productions

Trivia:

The Broadway production of "Borstal Boy" based on a book by Brendan Behan and adapted for the stage by Frank McMahon opened at the Lyceum Theater in New York on March 31, 1970, ran for 143 performances and won the 1970 Tony Award for Best play.

Quotes:

[about Love]
Brendan Behan: I had it both ways... just like Oscar Wilde.

I wish I had the money to make this movie today

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.