Despite seeming like the epitome of British thespianism, the films writer and director, Kenneth Branagh was actually born in Northern Ireland, until he was nine when his family moved to England. As it is now well documented, this is a film that chronicles his upbringing in the late 1960’s during the period known as The Troubles in Northern Ireland. The Troubles was a three decade long fight between Protestants and Catholics over views of discrimination and the subsequent push backs. The fighting reached its peak in 1972 with Bloody Sunday, where British troops killed fourteen unarmed Catholic protesters. In Belfast we get a semi-fictionalized take on Branagh’s upbringing from the perspective of him as a young child. The Branagh stand in here is Buddy, played by newcomer Jude Hill, as we get to see and explore the world of Belfast through his eyes and memory.
The film starts with a beautiful and loving tribute to the city in modern times. We see famous landmarks and residential neighbourhoods in vivid colour and details. Shot in a way only by someone who has a deep love and admiration for the city. The film then scales a wall into a small street where the film goes from technicolour to black and white, where it stays for the rest of the film. We meet Buddy, he is playing with friends as his mother is calling him in for tea time. As exuberant Buddy bounds down the road with a makeshift sword and shield as he slays dragons he is caught off guard and terrified as a violent mob of Protestants round the corner as they throw molotov cocktails and bricks and mark the Catholic homes as a warning for them to leave the city. The camera spins around Buddy as he is frozen in fear, before his mum swoops in to save him at the last moment.
Buddy’s Pa, played by Jamie Dornan works in England as a tradesman and only comes home once every two weeks. He’s working off back taxes he owes to the government while his wife, Ma, played by Caitriona Balfe, raises the families two sons, young Buddy and the teenaged Will. The film’s main plot is the decision Ma and Pa have to make regarding the family. Do they stay in Belfast, or do they leave for somewhere safer? Despite being Protestant, and not being subjected to the vicious assaults being inflicted onto the Catholic community, the family isn’t immune to the violence. It tears up their neighbourhood, to the point where the sidewalks are literally torn up to form a barricade to patrol who gets to come and go. There is also the fact that local Unionists are demanding either monetary donations or volunteers to terrorize the Protestants, putting Pa and Will in their crosshairs as being able bodied men. Ma and Pa make it very clear that there is no difference between Protestants and Catholics and a difference in faith is not a reason to create deadly factions.
Since the film takes place from Buddy’s point of view, there are often moments that almost border on magical realism. While there is nothing that happens that is impossible, Brannagh manages to imbue the film with such childlike wonder you swear some things can’t possibly be true. We see Ma and Pa as flawed people, but with the idolatry that a young child views that their parents can do no wrong. His Granny and Pop, played by the splendid duo of Judy Dench and Ciarán Hinds, are everything you want from grandparents. They are funny, smart and most of all comforting in ways only grandparents can be. We get a few flashes of colour, not unexpectedly when they are at the cinema as a family and watch the Disney film Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, but very unexpectedly when they go to the theatre to see a performance of A Christmas Carol. Both instances the performances are in full colour again, while the rest of the world is still black and white.
The film wrestles with heavy subject matter, but because of the focal point, it never becomes more overwhelming than the concept of leaving your friends behind if the family leaves Belfast. We get an immense amount of love and joy, yearning and sadness, comfort and despair. Just about every emotion on the spectrum is felt and none of it feels hollow or false. There is such a zest for life, that by the time the what will become the infamous musical number set to Everlasting Love by Love Affair you will have to force yourself to remain seated in one of the most emotion packed sequences set to film this year. By the time the final dedications flash on the screen right before the end credits, you’ll almost be a wreck of emotions swirling inside of you, leaving your jaw agape and heart full. Branagh may have been lost to the wilderness directing wise for over a decade, but it took him returning to his childhood to make a masterpiece all set to the tunes of Belfast’s own Van Morrison. The film deservedly won the People’s Choice award at TIFF and will surely go on to be a major player come Oscar season.
Belfast was seen during the 2021 Vancouver International Film Festival Thank you to the festival for the press pass.
