Belfast

BELFAST
2021 | Dir. Kenneth Branagh | 97 Minutes

"That wee girl can be a practicing Hindu, or a Southern Baptist, or a Vegetarian Anti-Christ, but if she's kind and she's fair, and you two respect each other, she and her people are welcome in our house any day of the week."

The carefree life of a bright and inquisitive 9-year-old boy named Buddy is thrown into disarray when local political upheaval forces his family to consider leaving their homeland. Pressured by external forces to join a cause he doesn't fully understand, Buddy's loving family teaches him to remain true to his kind and thoughtful self.

An unmistakably autobiographical story, Kenneth Branagh's Belfast is told primarily from precocious school boy Buddy's point of view, authentically presenting the joy of childhood as it is disrupted by escalating turmoil in his community. The film immediately establishes Buddy as a sweet and caring child, loving and loved by his family, harboring an innocent crush on a classmate, and profoundly shaken by the threat of spiritual damnation courtesy of the passionate sermons of the local minister. By design, it is easy for the audience to identify with Buddy's hopes, dreams, concerns, and fears. As his parents squabble over household financial problems on top of the constant threat of violence in the streets, the way the film depicts Buddy's growth as a result of his exposure to these stark realities despite his limited understanding of the world is emotionally impactful on profound level. Buddy breaking down into tears when his parents ask him how he would feel about moving to London, despite Buddy having prior knowledge of the plan, is a particularly heart-wrenching moment.

Shot in striking black and white, Branagh presents the 1969 setting of Belfast in a visually captivating presentation that evokes the films and news reels of the time. The terror and chaos of the riot sequences feel very real while the quieter moments spent with Buddy and his family are appropriately intimate. Thoughtfully, the few sequences of color in the film are reserved for the film's bookends showing its titular city in modern day and, more artfully, when Buddy and his family watch films or stage plays together, when they are afforded opportunities to escape reality for a few fleeting moments.

As Buddy, young Jude Hill delivers a wonderfully natural performance, capably carrying the film as its true emotional center. Caitríona Balfe also does truly fantastic work as Buddy's headstrong mother and though he is not featured as prominently, Jamie Dornan is a solid match as Buddy's industrious, morally centered father. Lara McDonnell is amusing as Buddy's miscreant bad-influence teenage friend Moira. The picture also features Ciarán Hinds and Judi Dench giving standout performances as the most adorable Irish grandparents ever, Lewis McAskie as Buddy's older brother Will, Colin Morgan as a sectarian street thug, and Turlough Convery and an intimidating fire-and-brimstone minister.

Belfast is a deeply affecting snapshot in time capturing everyday life and fleeting innocence amidst the unyielding tumultuous movement of history. Without pulling any punches or leaning into melodrama, Kenneth Branagh's composes a loving tribute to the people of Northern Ireland as they were when the Troubles began.


FRAGMENTS
- Buddy is seen reading a Thor comic book, an amusing reference to Marvel Studios' Thor directed by Kenneth Branagh

- "Everlasting Love" by Love Affair is prominently featured in the picture's advertising campaign and performed by Jamie Dornan in the film was stuck in my head for days after I saw the film


007 CONNECTIONS
- Judi Dench (M in GoldenEye, Tomorrow Never Dies, The World Is Not Enough, Die Another Day, Casino Royale, Quantum of Solace, Skyfall, and Spectre)