Borstal Boy is a 2000 romantic drama film directed by Peter Sheridan, based on the 1958 autobiographical novel of the same name by Irish writer Brendan Behan.
Plot In 1941, 16-year-old IRA volunteer Brendan Behan is going on a bombing mission from Republic of Ireland to Liverpool during the Second World War. His mission is thwarted when he is apprehended, charged and imprisoned in a borstal, a reform institution for young offenders in East Anglia, England. At borstal, Brendan is forced to live face-to-face with those he regarded as his enemies, a confrontation that reveals a deep inner conflict in the young Brendan and forces a self-examination that is both traumatic and revealing. Events take an unexpected turn and Brendan is thrown into a complete spin. In the emotional vortex, he finally faces up to the truth.
Cast Shawn Hatosy as Brendan Behan Danny Dyer as Charlie Millwall Lee Ingleby as Dale Michael York as Joyce Eva Birthistle as Liz Joyce Mark Huberman as Mac Ian McElhinney as Verreker Ronnie Drew as Customs
Adaptation The director, Sheridan, said "there was a very specific aspect of Behan's story I was interested in -- his Republicanism contrasted with his sexuality" and that he "took huge liberties in order to make the film I wanted to make". It depicts Behan as attracted to his male best friend as well as the warden's daughter. Much of the film's narrative is very different from the novel, including adding the romances, an escape attempt, and a student play.
Reception Roger Ebert gave Borstal Boys two out of four stars, lacking the "gusto and rudeness" of the source material. He found the depictions of the borstal softened and unrealistic. Film critic Stephen Holden described the film as "a likable rites-of-passage memory piece doused in period nostalgia". Reviewer Scott Tobias, writing for the A.V. Club, also noted the nostalgic softening of Behan's story, including that the film "disingenuously suggests that the borstal years cured Behan of his aggression, when in reality, he shot a police officer shortly after returning to Dublin." A reviewer for The Advocate described the film as entertaining and manipulative.
See also
List of feature films with bisexual characters
References
External links
LA Times review