I can safely say that ‘Belfast’ is the gentlest, nicest film set against a backdrop of religious war, of civil war that I have seen. This end-of-year crowd pleaser mixes nostalgia with sunny sounding Van Morrison songs to create (or re-create) a neighborhood so nice that its residents would rather risk bombs than to move away. Most of them, anyway.
Kenneth Branagh, to whom a generation owes a debt for his accessible cinematic introduction to Shakespeare, writes and directs based on his own 1960s childhood memories. His semi-autobiographical take on a city in peril during that time doesn’t forget The Troubles, but the movie is about more than that – and, in a way, less.
In other words, Branagh puts as much emphasis on conversations between sons and fathers, fathers and grandfathers, as he does the growing menace to his neighborhood street – the rare place where Catholics and Protestants still live in harmony.
The device of having the historical exposition told by newscasts on TV in the background was a great idea (if a little overused) because it illustrates that people are falling in love, or getting ill from old age, or going to work in the foreground while the fact of guerilla war is always within earshot of the radio or TV.
11 year old Jude Hill, as Buddy, is the heart and soul of the film (and Branagh’s avatar) and, man, he is so good. It’s hard to get a naturalistic performance from a child actor, but Hill delivers a poignant and often funny take. And the script does have many funny lines.
But the essence of drama is conflict and in this screenplay the conflict arises from the kid’s dad, who is under increasing pressure from a bullying street level “soldier” to take arms. But Pa would rather move the family away – far away. The family may not agree. Conflict.
At a tight 97 minutes, Belfast doesn’t overstay its welcome. It drops us into another world in another time and then finishes with this Van Morrison song over the credits, along with 7 or 8 other Morrison tunes interspersed.
“Nice” has become an ironic term of derision where art is concerned, but it’s the feeling I had while watching a great cast, including Dame Judi Dench as the grandmother who could’ve been any of our grandmothers, and while admiring Branagh’s non-fussy screenplay and easy balance of light and darkness. It was a nice experience.
How To See Belfast: https://www.focusfeatures.com/belfast/
