Belfast (2021)

By: Mike Ward on Thursday, December 23

PG-13 Running Time: 98 mins

SHOULD I SEE IT?

YES

Kenneth Branagh’s Belfast is an attempt to recapture childhood through a black-and-white sequence of scenes evocative of memories made growing up in turbulent times.
A wonderful cast, led by a very mature Jude Hill in his feature-film debut, draws us into the atmosphere Branagh creates in and around social unrest in 1969 Ireland.
In the end, love survives - which may be Branagh’s ultimate statement and a message we all never seem to hear enough anymore.

NO

There are those who will wonder what the point of all of this is, questioning whether Kenneth Branagh made a movie for an audience of a few vs. for an audience of many.
By telling the story through the eyes of a 9-year-old boy, some of the dramatic beats have been called “heavy-handed” and “maudlin” by critics who did not vibe with the film whatsoever.
Comparisons have been made to Roma, and if you did not like that film, Belfast may fall into a similar place.

OUR REVIEW

Set during the turbulent final months of 1969, and stretching into the first few months of 1970, Kenneth Branagh’s semi-biographical Belfast looks at a family’s struggle and resilience within their own familial structure, and within the context of a society at large.

After a panoramic view of the modern-day Northern Ireland city gives way to a black-and-white recreation of Branagh’s youth, we open on the date of August 15, 1969. For a few minutes, we see a bustling, interconnected center of residents and trade, people milling around shops and homes at will. Soon, however, this street becomes the destination for a massive fight and subsequent assault by a gang of Protestants looking to torch the Catholic businesses and homes on fire.

These types of conflicts were known as “The Troubles,” a three decades-long fight based not just on religious differences, but also steeped in ethnic and nationalistic undertones. In documenting the day, or the moment, “The Troubles” arrived in his life firsthand, Branagh constructs his opening minutes as something out of a war film. At one point, a mother rescues her 9-year-old son by holding a garbage can lid to her head, deflecting bricks and rocks, while attempting to usher him inside.

Prior to those attacks, we come to know that 9-year-old boy as Buddy (Jude Hill), a blonde-headed child with a smile that never stops and an optimism and curiosity about the world that leads to lots of dialogue, conversation and many, many questions. Ma (Caitríona Balfe) is a homemaker trying to keep the family afloat, which consists of Buddy, older son Will (Lewis McAskie), and her in-laws Granny (Judi Dench) and Pop (Ciarán Hinds). Pa (Jamie Dornan) is gone for weeks at a time, working as a laborer in England.

Branagh is telling the stories in Belfast from memories of his childhood and upbringing. As a result, frequently we hear news stories or snippets of information from televisions or radios playing in the background - a clever way to provide context for the politics, the culture, and the general mood of the time and place.

If Belfast feels like a movie about a lot of thoughts, but not an actual verse-chorus-verse structure of a story, you’re on the right track. After debuting at the 2021 Telluride Film Festival, comparisons to Alfonso Cuarón’s Oscar-winning Roma were almost immediately made. In that film, we see the world of a turbulent Mexico City neighborhood, over the course of a year, through the eyes of a housekeeper for a family struggling to get by. Here, Branagh’s use of “The Troubles” keeps tensions right at hand, an air of danger and unpredictability looming over every scene.

Ultimately, the family is trying to survive in a community changing and shifting under their feet. For Ma, Belfast is all she’s known. She cannot conceive of living anywhere else. As a homemaker raising the children each and every day, Pa’s prospects of new work opportunities and desire for a new life elsewhere stands in stark contrast to all she knows.

Financial troubles come into play. Buddy falling in with a group of young shoplifters and looters causes him to flirt with a different path in life. And speaking of flirting, he is smitten with Catherine (Olive Tennant), a young classmate who he competes with academically, but also plans to marry, confiding such plans to a chuckling Pop.

Belfast works best when Branagh focuses on day-to-day interactions. We sense community and the strengths it can bring to people who feel the world is conspiring against them. To underscore that sentiment through many of the scenes, Branagh turns to Van Morrison’s music, including one new song (“Down to Joy”) to patch together transitions from one scene to the next, or to better contextualize thoughts and feelings unspoken.

Despite some odd framing of certain shots, which might seem to exist for only a specific artistic flair or taste, the overall technical aspects of Belfast are masterful. Director of Photography, Haris Zambarloukos, finds beauty in the monochromatic presentation, replicating the sense that we are watching memories unfold before us. At a crisp 97 minutes, editor Úna Ní Duonghaíle keeps the film lively and spirited, as Branagh weaves us through the sweet and sour of everyday life.

Not everything works from a story standpoint. Some will question what the overall point of Belfast is, since it lives in moments and situations rather than in defining a more conventional narrative. One subplot, involving Pa being antagonized by a town heavy, Billy (Colin Morgan), who threatens to harm him feels forced and underdeveloped. For those who may not be familiar with “The Troubles,” the reasons behind the prospects of violence and riots may seem obtuse and hard to understand.

What does stand out is that Belfast champions making the small moments we all experience meaningful and important. With a few sequences in color, Branagh illuminates a sense of wonder and excitement. This centers Buddy’s love of film, Branagh’s nod to his eventual career as an award-winning actor, writer, and director. It also reminds us why entertainment - on stage or on screen - can be so impactful. We can escape into worlds different than our own. Watching movies like Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and One Million Years, B.C. take Buddy’s family away from the doldrums of money concerns, health challenges, a father away for weeks at a time, and the potential for violence to land literally at your doorstep.

If movies are to deliver us to places different than our own, if movies are to let us escape for a couple of hours, Belfast often proves to be an overwhelming success.

CAST & CREW

Starring: Jude Hill, Caitríona Balfe, Jamie Dornan, Judi Dench, Ciarán Hinds, Lewis McAskie, Colin Morgan, Olive Tennant, Lara McDonnell, Gerard Horan, Turlough Convery, Gerard McCarthy, Vanessa Ifediora

Director: Kenneth Branagh
Written by: Kenneth Branagh
Release Date: November 12, 2021
Focus Features

Kenneth Branagh’s Belfast is an attempt to recapture childhood through a black-and-white sequence of scenes evocative of memories made growing up in turbulent times.

A wonderful cast, led by a very mature Jude Hill in his feature-film debut, draws us into the atmosphere Branagh creates in and around social unrest in 1969 Ireland.

In the end, love survives - which may be Branagh’s ultimate statement and a message we all never seem to hear enough anymore.

There are those who will wonder what the point of all of this is, questioning whether Kenneth Branagh made a movie for an audience of a few vs. for an audience of many.

By telling the story through the eyes of a 9-year-old boy, some of the dramatic beats have been called “heavy-handed” and “maudlin” by critics who did not vibe with the film whatsoever.

Comparisons have been made to Roma, and if you did not like that film, Belfast may fall into a similar place.