Born on June 2, 1973 in the slums of havana, Cuba, the principal dancer of the Royal Ballet, Carlos Acosta, now 46 years old, he has a very different upbringing from the traditional children of wealthy and upper-class families, he loved hip-hop and hated ballet from an early age, and he only wanted to become a football player, and the scenery rode on the court; thanks to the two Bole fathers and ballet teachers who discovered his dancing talent and potential, under their painstaking cultivation, He became the first black man to enter the Royal Ballet of England, stood out from many well-born white classmates, and became the lead dancer of the company with excellent dance skills, not only escaping poverty, jumping on the world stage, climbing to the top of the ballet world, but also successfully changing the future of him and his family.
His father knew that his son had a talent for dancing, dragged him back from the street with one hand, forced him to enter the Cuban National Dance School to study ballet, and the playful Yuli did not want to wear tights at all, but only wanted to become a football star like Billy, the king of the ball, and always expressed his reluctance by skipping class and fighting. However, under the careful cultivation and guidance of the college teachers, he finally planted himself into the charming dance world, with his talent and efforts, gradually created his own life legend, became a generation of dazzling principal dancers, and broke the tradition, becoming the first black dancer of the Royal Ballet of London to perform Romeo, forging a brilliant career of up to 17 years.
The film "Yuli the Ballet King" is based on the autobiography of Carlos Acosta, the most prominent black Cuban dancer. The whole film integrates the shooting and editing methods of half theatrical and half true documentaries, in addition to the real emotions of the actors in front of the scenes, the performance is delicate and unpretentious, moving, the strong behind-the-scenes master team lineup, but also added a lot of points to the film, from the Spanish famous director Ihia Polline directed, "I Am Black" Gold Award screenwriter Paul Raviti's touching script and dialogue, Spanish Goya Award-winning photographer Alex Kadaran at the helm, internationally renowned choreographer Maria Rovillas' choreography and the Academy Award-winning composer Alberto Iglesias' score are very touching to watch.
The story not only tells Carlos Acosta's rebellious and difficult road to learn dance since childhood, but also details the various intertwined family poverty and parent-child relationship imbalance, street bullying, school and social race and class discrimination, international political storm and economic blockade and other ordeal trials in the process of growing up, because of the poor social class of the family, coupled with the color of black people, their family suffered from racial discrimination, and his father, who wanted to lead the whole family out of poverty, because he foreknowledgeed that little Eure carlos. Acosta's dance talent, never gave up for him to run around for the guidance of famous teachers, but also with the use of high-pressure iron fist means to force him to become a material, although he was forced to embark on the road of ballet he did not love under high pressure, but also successfully with a talent, out of trouble to climb the high edge of the ballet world in the Western world.
But the first half of his life, always an unhappy child, and his father, there is a constantly chaotic parent-child love-hate relationship, in the film he constantly encounters these negative energy in the process of growing up, covering bullying, racial discrimination, totalitarian government to the pain of parent-child confrontation, through the choreography into a positive energy between traditional ballet and modern dance outstanding dance, interspersed with dramatic techniques and real records, by Carlos Acosta Benzun, plus Edison Manuel Obela ( Playing the role of a child) and Kevin Martinez (playing him as a young man), three real unpretentious performances are bittersweet and thought-provoking, and the issue of education and respect for children's autonomy in learning is explored from different levels.
In such a totalitarian dictatorship, suffering from the economic blockade of the US imperialists, a child with incomparable dance talent, but can not see his own potential, is it grown up like most ordinary people to live in mediocrity? Or should he be honed by his father and teacher, who can see his talent, to hone his talents in a high-pressure way, until he successfully gets rid of poverty and has a future that the world envies?
The movie "Ballet King Yuli" allows the audience to enjoy the incredible beauty of the film, the palace-level ballet art figure, and the mesmerizing soundtrack, but also let people think about serious issues such as international politics, society, family parenting, racial and class discrimination and bullying, etc. Pain creates extraordinary, but behind the extraordinary, what ways can reduce the psychological growth scars of innocent students? It is worth our efforts.