A very powerful film dealing with complex issues like coming to terms with aging, police brutality, and animal abuse. While kids may find these thematic elements surprising, you'd be wise to force your kids to watch it, as it'll open their naive eyes to the way the world truly is: broken.
In the introduction to our protagonist: "Sir Billi", whose royal title juxtaposing with his dirty and worn attire, says a thousand words in an image I DARE you to find duplicated in some overly pretentious "cinema" like Citizen Kane. It is in this simple yet powerful depiction of riches turned to rags that unlocks the world that the characters of this movie inhabit. Not even wealth can bring you happiness, nor friends, nor family as indicated by Sir Billi's emotional coldness towards his daughter and grandson as he abandons his direct family for the companionship of an anthromorphic goat. The only thing that can you bring you happiness in the world of this film is the somber realization and acceptance that the only guarantee in life is death. Billie tries to warn the animals of this fact, but seeing as they are animals, they barely listen, which is in itself, a clever allegory for the real truth seekers out there pointing out the faults in today's modern society while the sheep are content with just feeding upon the grass of lies and discontent.
In a cold world that not even Scorsese could fully realize in Taxi Driver, Billi, in the twilight of his years, finds his only meaning in the metaphorical breaking of his shackles which were thrusted upon the common people by the strong arm of the law. Billi threatens a police officer with his own brute force, promising to "give him one", and allows Billi to reject the claim that police lives truly matter. In this film, no life matters more than the other, because the filmmakers in a genius way show us that life truly has no meaning except the one we assign it to. We hear of Billi's past adventures but we never see them. Are they the wistful and somber recollections of an old rapscallion wishing for the days of old? Or are they indicative of an ever darker theme rearing its ugly head? The filmmakers are supremely genius for never outright mentioning Billi has dementia, but leaving it open to interpretation, something even Kubrick wouldn't dare leave open-ended.
In the end, Sir Billi is really about the human condition and the flaws within us all. I find it to be a more revealing film each time. With its subtle storytelling techniques and intelligent characters, I couldn't think of a better film for Connery to close the curtains on his illustrious career. Himself now a mirror image of Sir Billi: A broken man, trying to find meaning in the twilight of his years in a world that has passed him by.
In the introduction to our protagonist: "Sir Billi", whose royal title juxtaposing with his dirty and worn attire, says a thousand words in an image I DARE you to find duplicated in some overly pretentious "cinema" like Citizen Kane. It is in this simple yet powerful depiction of riches turned to rags that unlocks the world that the characters of this movie inhabit. Not even wealth can bring you happiness, nor friends, nor family as indicated by Sir Billi's emotional coldness towards his daughter and grandson as he abandons his direct family for the companionship of an anthromorphic goat. The only thing that can you bring you happiness in the world of this film is the somber realization and acceptance that the only guarantee in life is death. Billie tries to warn the animals of this fact, but seeing as they are animals, they barely listen, which is in itself, a clever allegory for the real truth seekers out there pointing out the faults in today's modern society while the sheep are content with just feeding upon the grass of lies and discontent.
In a cold world that not even Scorsese could fully realize in Taxi Driver, Billi, in the twilight of his years, finds his only meaning in the metaphorical breaking of his shackles which were thrusted upon the common people by the strong arm of the law. Billi threatens a police officer with his own brute force, promising to "give him one", and allows Billi to reject the claim that police lives truly matter. In this film, no life matters more than the other, because the filmmakers in a genius way show us that life truly has no meaning except the one we assign it to. We hear of Billi's past adventures but we never see them. Are they the wistful and somber recollections of an old rapscallion wishing for the days of old? Or are they indicative of an ever darker theme rearing its ugly head? The filmmakers are supremely genius for never outright mentioning Billi has dementia, but leaving it open to interpretation, something even Kubrick wouldn't dare leave open-ended.
In the end, Sir Billi is really about the human condition and the flaws within us all. I find it to be a more revealing film each time. With its subtle storytelling techniques and intelligent characters, I couldn't think of a better film for Connery to close the curtains on his illustrious career. Himself now a mirror image of Sir Billi: A broken man, trying to find meaning in the twilight of his years in a world that has passed him by.