Belfast

Kenneth Branagh delivers a beautiful, heartfelt film about a family in 1969 Belfast. Branagh's love for the town of Belfast is palpable. The cast is superb--especially, Caitriona Balfe, whose portrayal as a wife and mother, torn between staying in her native Belfast as religious and political violence escalates or moving to England for her family's safety, is heartbreaking.

To some it would come as a surprise that Kenneth Branagh is from Northern Ireland.

He never hid the fact that his family moved to Britain once the Troubles started in the late 1960s.

Once they arrived Branagh had to modify his Irish accent to fit in.

The semi autobiographical Belfast expands on the forces that drove Branagh's parents to take the momentous step to move away from their homeland.

Starting off in colour, it moves into black and white. Buddy is playing with other children in his neighbourhood. It is 1969 and both Protestants and Catholics live on the same street.

Suddenly shocking violence erupts, a Protestant mob wants to force the Catholics out.

In this turmoil, Buddy's dad who works as a carpenter in London contemplates moving to the mainland. Not helped by the financial woes over a tax demand.

For Buddy it also means leaving behind his grandparents and the girl he fancies at school.

For his dad, he is being pressurized to choose sides. It is no coincidence that one of the movies the family watches at the cinema is High Noon.

The Troubles is now mainly consigned to history. I speak to my children in the past tense as to my experience of growing up during the IRA bombing campaign ranging from the 1970s to the 1990s.

There was always a danger that visiting a city centre in the mainland during Christmas meant the risk of some kind of car bomb suddenly going off. In fact there was a day when I was stuck in a traffic jam meaning I was delayed getting to a place that was earlier blown up by an IRA bomb.

Belfast has been called nostalgic, having a thin plot. It is life affirming but does not shy away from the turmoil. It is framed in a child's viewpoint, wonderfully played by Jude Hill.

The events of the film are still relevant. Brexit has placed dangers on the Good Friday Agreement. The present Tory government is cynically playing fast and loose with it. The impact of the Troubles must never be forgotten.

"Go. Go now. Don't look back. I love you, son." Granny (Judi Dench)

You can complain that Kenneth Branagh his filtered his 9-year-old Buddy (Jude Hill) through his own rose-colored revery of the 1969 bloody ethno-nationalist uprising in Belfast, and you'd be right. However, like all of us remembering, that past is most pleasantly remembered through the lens of loving family struggle that binds.

While Branagh doesn't shy away from how the Northern Ireland Troubles between Protestants and Catholics was challenging all families, his endearing portrait of Buddy as a curious and sweet, albeit precocious, school boy for whom the biggest conflicts are figuring out how not to emigrate from Belfast because of the violence and connecting with the elusive little blonde who occupies the top of her class with Buddy.

One of the best movies of the year, Belfast gives scant references to Branagh's eventual rise to the top of his filmmaking class and emphasizes the effect a loving family can have on a small-town lad. Especially nostalgic is his interaction with his Granny (Judi Dench) and Pop (Ciaran Hinds), who best represent the benign Belfast world, the one so difficult to leave behind.

Branagh brilliantly chooses a sharp black and white for most of the film, as if to say, "Unlike the color opening, my story will be realistic in a cinematic sense that black and white usually represented in mid-20th century films." Adding a bunch of bad-boy Van Morrison tunes is a perfect surround-sound for the contradictions of Buddy's coming of age in a civil war that is both secular and religious.

The joy of this film is the 9-year-old's warm, nostalgic remembrance of a war-torn land. Belfast confirms the suspicion that those of us lucky enough to grow up in a loving family can survive war and even coronaviruses and become world-renowned filmmakers.

Belfast is one of Kenneth Branagh's best films, and that is saying much.

Writer and Director, Kenneth Branagh provides this heart warming reflection of his childhood in an all black and white feature depicting Belfast from 1969. Through the eyes of a 9 year old boy, you experience the trauma of obstacles, the joy of simplicity, and the impact of genuine relationships in this story about one family wrapped into a story about one country.

Synopsis:

"A semi-autobiographical film which chronicles the life of a working class family and their young son's childhood during the tumult of the late 1960s in the Northern Ireland capital."

What You See, Feel, and Hear

This film is much deeper than what is represented on screen. On screen, you experience a very neutral energy within the script. Even with devastating moments you don't necessarily go through a journey of difficult emotions throughout the film, but rather it's as if you're watching "real life" depict itself on screen. The story was blatantly.. simple? As a viewer you're looking to get attached to something in order to feel invested within a film and that seemed a bit difficult at times. With minor moments of relationship building and humorous interactions I found myself a bit scattered with what I was focusing on. One thing I fell back on was the camera work. With a very simple story, Branagh introduced his version of creative camera work to capitalize on the art of storytelling. I relate this camera style to Wes Anderson with stationary movements and intriguing camera angles to enhance the subjects that were in place.

The acting was phenomenal yet I fear may go unnoticed. Jude Hill executes beautifully on his feature film debut as he manages the tone of emotions throughout the entire story as a 9 year old boy. The performance that allowed me to feel the severity of the circumstances was from Caitriona Balfe (Outlander, Ford v Ferrari, Escape Plan) who plays the role of Buddy's (Jude Hill) mother. I found it impressive how Kenneth Branagh truly made this film his own. This was the first script Branagh had written since 2006 where he wrote "The Magic Flute". Many cast members, including the production team, were raised in Belfast and had personal connections with this story. You even see a nod to Branagh's directorial work as you see Buddy reading a Thor comic (Branagh directed "Thor" in 2011).

Branagh decided to make this film black and white and I can only imagine that he wanted to capture the right energy with this script, especially while taking place in 1969. Within moments of the story you see the detail of art at work as emotions change strictly due to the use of cameras and sound. With a $7 million budget there wasn't a lot of room for substantial changes including lighting. Almost all the lighting during this film was used with only available light, meaning no additional lights were supplied even for scenes taking place indoors. The score was loose and "fun" and supplied a sense of childish light to the darkness of circumstances taking place.

My Take

I was a bit underwhelmed with the plot, and very pleased with the creative work and acting performances. The up-close dynamic of cameras on abstract angles was used almost perfectly. I thoroughly enjoyed the relationship between Buddy and his grandfather, their humor matched each other and though there weren't many moments between the two of them on screen, the ones that you do experience are the ones you remember most. I also enjoyed the authentic love story from the perspective of a 9 year old child. The most interesting secret was the color transition between black and white to color with specific scenes. I imagine this was due to separate fantasy and reality or past and present but regardless, it added a touch of curiosity and changed my passive viewing behavior to an active one. Overall, this is a beautiful film that is exceptionally slow from start to finish with subtle spurts of spontaneity.

Grade: 7.2/10.

A lovely film, well filmed and beautifully acted by the main actors and particularly by Jude Hill. Filmed in black and white it caught the era well and the soundtrack by Van Morrison was perfect.