BELFAST Review – Emotional, Moving, A Must See!

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Category: Indies, Docs, Foreign Film

Published on Thursday, 17 March 2022 17:29

Written by Janet Walker

Belfast, from Focus Features, tells a loss of innocence story as the streets of Belfast, Ireland, erupt with religious violence, and civil unrest as the Protestants and Catholics could find no common ground, and tolerance is lost.

The film begins in color as the camera pans over contemporary Belfast, to the tunes of Belfast native Van Morrison, traveling through the streets, with colorful murals, beautiful horizons and a violent history that seems distant and as the camera narrows to a street and we transition to black and white and August 15, 1969.

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A street of row houses, where everyone knows everyone and trouble seems unimaginable, a woman, played by Caitriona Balfe, steps out of the house, and calls her son for tea. As her voice echo's into the corners of the neighborhood, the older kids hear and act as a relay system, and soon Buddy, played by Jude Hill, who is engaged in an imaginative game of conquering warrior, is heading home, talking to each of the neighbors as he walks down the middle of the street.

Time seems to stop as he nears his home, and from the corner a mob of men announce that is time to rid the streets of the Catholics. In seconds, the mob unleashes a venomous hatred, breaking windows, hurling rocks, and Buddy, is caught in the middle of the riot.

His mom rushes out of the house, grabs him, hauls him back inside, out of harm's way, and shoves him under the table. She races outside to gather his older brother, Will, played by Lewis McAskie, and with both her sons safe, she crawls across the floor and watches from the window. The rage continues and finally, the mob rolls a taxi into the street, open the gas tank and lite a rag, and in seconds the taxi explodes.

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By the morning, the neighborhood built a barricade and the British military had arrived. Buddy's dad, played Jamie Dornan, who is working in England and lives away from his family, returns as he heard about the violence. Passionate, working-class, the couple is caught up in the mayhem.

Even with the barricade we are given glimpses of the life they had known; block parties, dancing in the street, a community, an extended family, all loyal to each other. We meet Buddy's grandparents, Granny, played by Judi Dench, and Pa, played by Ciaran Hinds. His daily visits for math help and girl advice cement this bond.

We understand these are a people fiercely loyal to their homeland. Even as the times progress and tolerance is presented as the guide for this family, they hold to the hope that this season of unrest, and the economic collapse that followed would pass, and life would return to the brief, fleeting, bright moments, the days that they remembered.

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Belfast tells the story of innocence lost, of hard realities, of choices that parents, at times, must make, even the face of unbearable loss, for the future and safety of their lives. The soundtrack, tunes of Van Morrison, reflect the season of change and is filled with the times of life.

Belfast enlightens the world to a time and a distant land where, for some unknown reason, the global volcanic rage, like a contagion, had spread. When the lens was focused on the social changes in the United States, the tumultuous civil rights movement, the labor pains as the youth of society already jaded by the assassination of President Kennedy and the Vietnam War, took to the streets demanding to be heard and not ignored. 

Nominated for seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director, Belfast is a must see.

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Country: Ireland.

Language: English.

Release Date: In Theaters.

Writer: Kenneth Branagh.

Director: Kenneth Branagh.

Cast: Caitríona Balfe, Judi Dench, Jamie Dornan, Ciaran Hinds, Jude Hill, Lewis McAskie, Lara McDonnell, Olive Tennant, Barnaby Chambers, John Sessions, Colin Morgan, Gerard Horan, Conor MacNeill, Turlough Convery, Josie Walker, Vanessa Ifediora, Gerard McCarthy, Sid Sagar.