Ballet Shoes

“DREAMS DO COME TRUE…
“We three Fossils vow to put our name in the history books, because it is ours, and ours alone…” With these words, three orphans, raised as sisters, embark on an exhilarating journey that takes them to the heights of the stage, screen and sky.
Pauline (Watson), Petrova (Yasmin Paige) and Posy Fossil (Lucy Boynton) are adopted as infants by eccentric explorer Professor Matthew Brown (Richard Griffiths), whom they affectionately call Great Uncle Matthew (or “Gum” for short). When “Gum” goes missing, his niece Sylvia (Emilia Fox) keeps the family together by taking in lodgers and eventually enrolls the girls in the Children's Academy of Dancing and Stage Training. This suits the ambitious Pauline, who longs to act, and Posy, a natural dancer, but Petrova, who yearns to become an aviator, has her own dreams of soaring the skies. The girls’ lives in show business are filled with triumphs and lessons learned until “Gum’s” surprise return provides the perfect happy ending for them all.”[1]
Ballet Shoes focuses on the fact that “dreams do come true.” However, this movie also deals with poverty. The movie quickly sets up the plot. A young girl, Sylvia, and her nurse go to Professor Matthew Brown because he is the girl’s last surviving relative and he reluctantly, at first, lets them live with him. The professor, known as Gum, leaves for years and brings back a baby whose parents have died. He then quickly leaves again and when he gets back he has another baby. Once again he quickly leaves, but this time he doesn’t come back and sends a third baby. Gum does not come back and eventually, as the children grow older, they run out of money. They are pulled out of school and have to rent rooms in their house to get money. The girls get enrolled in Children's Academy of Dancing and Stage Training because the head of the school will take in the girls if she gets part of their salary when they start working. Pauline gets a role immediately, when she starts to work, and can help the family out with some of their money problems, but Sylvia is getting sick. She has a bad cough and cannot afford to rest and to take care of it. She does go to see a specialist, but she needs more than that. She insists on hiding this from the girls and tries to hide the fact that they are poor, as well. Petrova is the next oldest and she also gets a job because there is no one else trying out for the role, she is not as talented as her sisters and does not care. Petrova just wants to earn money so that Sylvia can have a holiday and rest to take care of her cough. Posy, the youngest, gets to train with the head of the school, an honor.
The girls want to help out in any way they can because they know they are poor. They have to be taken out of school to be home schooled because they cannot afford to pay. When they get into the new school, they do not have the money to buy new dresses to audition in when it is time to work. There is the constant worry over Sylvia’s health and weather they have the money to help her. The family relies on the girl’s paychecks and the money they get from the boarders to get everything.
*******************Warning: Spoilers***********************
The big trouble all start on Christmas when Sylvia reveals to Patrova that they cannot afford to keep the house. Gum has been declared legally dead and there is no money left. Pauline gets a part in a movie, which is good, but the head of the school has a stroke and this upsets Posy a lot because she can no longer finish her training. While the family is at the premiere of the movie Posy runs away to try and get the professional ballet to accept her and train her. The family does not know where she has gone and is in a panic. However, when she arrives home she has great news. The ballet wants her to train in! However, the family does not have the money for this, but Pauline has been asked to sign a five year contract to act in Hollywood, so she accepts it and Posy will get to go. Nanny can go with Posy and Sylvia can go with Pauline to California, and this will greatly help her health. Everyone seems to be happy, but wait, what about Patrova? All she wants to do is fly planes, where will she go? She can stay right there because all of a sudden Gum, who is not dead, walks through the door and he knows how to fly planes. Sylvia is then proposed to by one of the boarders and they all go to the wedding, except Patrova and Gum who later fly above in a plane. It is a very happy ending and they all get to live their dreams.
This is not very realistic; many people in poverty do not get the chances that they get in the movie. However, the movie is about dreams and not poverty. It does do a good job at showing some of the everyday struggles of people who are living in poverty. They cannot afford schooling or medical care. They cannot always afford to buy new clothes and often live paycheck to paycheck. While this movie has a too happy ending, it also can show some struggles that many people in poverty face. At one point Sylvia says, “The world isn’t kind to girls who can’t support themselves.” She has seen that not many people really care about them and that they have to take care of themselves. Someone should have helped them, if it were not for Gum coming back at the end; these girls would have lost their home and everything.
[1] http://www.balletshoesdvd.com/info.htm