Belfast – Movie Review
98 Minutes, Rated PG-13
Written and Directed by Kenneth Branagh
Synopsis:
A young boy and his working class family experience the tumultuous late 1960s in the early days of the Protestant/Catholic violence in Northern Ireland.
I am a long-time fan of Kenneth Branagh, going back to his days as Henry V, through the uneven bit that was Dead Again, through Frankenstein, The Gingerbread Man, up to and including his recent turn as the great Hercule Poirot in Murder on the Orient Express.
Heck, I even love the over-the-top performance he gave in Wild Wild West. Yes, that Wild Wild West.
Since most of his directorial work also includes him in front of the camera, I found it interesting–but not completely unexpected, considering the subject matter–that his latest release, Belfast, has him staying exclusively behind the lens.
Mirroring his own childhood experience, Branagh starts Belfast in August of 1969, as the Protestant versus Catholic violence begins (“the Troubles” as it was so blandly labeled, belying it’s true violence), dividing neighborhoods down to the street/house level in a modern religious purge that had long simmered, but which was finally boiling over.
Buddy, our young protagonist (played by Jude Hill in his feature debut), is our avatar, as he struggles to understand the seemingly mindless division of family against family, friend against friend, as everyone struggles to find their place as the violence escalates to the point that British troops are called in to secure the streets.
His father, played by Jamie Dornan, works in London due to mass unemployment in Ireland, separated from the family for weeks at a time, only coming home for the occasional weekend visit. This leaves his mother (played to perfection by Caitriona Balfe) to attempt to navigate the family through the escalating social chaos that threatens everything and everyone they know.
Buddy’s grandparents, played by Ciaran Hinds and Dame Judi Dench, portray the bedrock on which the disintegrating Belfast is built, but which is rapidly eroding beneath them.
The heart of the film is the family’s dilemma of whether or not to leave Belfast–and all that it represents: family, tradition, loyalty, culture–for London, or to stay and try to find a way to survive. It is a dilemma with only one true answer, as even the rosiest-colored glasses cannot hide what is so evident.
The gang-style fiefdoms begin to form, headed by those who cloak their otherwise unsavory attitudes in the raiment of religious piety, and there can be no neutral parties. One is either with or against the Protestants, and woe be to those who fail to declare loyalty.
From a creative standpoint, Branagh makes what I believe to be a bold directorial decision to have his actors perform in thick accents, which, even to those viewers who aren’t new to such “foreign” dialects, may find it sometimes hard to decipher, and he does so without the crutch of subtitles, which a lesser director might have utilized.
I know it sounds silly to suggest subtitles for what is spoken English, but if you’ve ever heard a thick Irish brogue, you know what I’m talking about here. For casual American audiences, much of the literal dialogue will be lost, but what isn’t lost–due to the incredible performances Branagh elicits from this cast–is the emotion of each scene.
Even if the cast were literally speaking ancient Greek, the heart and soul of every scene would play crystal clearly for the audience. You feel what they are saying, whether you understand it or not.
Belfast is, quite simply, a beautiful film: it is beautiful cinematically, emotionally, thematically… in any year, Belfast would be atop a short list of films to watch come awards season. Caitriona Balfe, especially, is simply radiant here, and Dornan is surprisingly effective.
And watching Hinds and Dench play together is, to put it mildly, why movies were invented in the first place.
But, truthfully, you could grab any cast member for recognition, and you wouldn’t be wrong.
Branagh has created a true cinematic event, imbuing a conflict so heartless in its execution with the heart of a small boy in love with his city, his family, and his home.
Belfast will be in theaters on November 12. I highly suggest you seek it out and watch it.
Belfast stars Caitriona Balfe, Judi Dench, Jamie Dornan, Ciaran Hinds, and Jude Hill.
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