Like The Power of the Dog, Belfast is a movie that’s been in release since last year and it has scored seven Oscar nominations. Don’t let anyone sell this movie short. It deserves every bit of acclaim it’s gotten.
Kenneth Branagh directs this beautifully made film in stark black-and-white and he tells a story that encompasses a turbulent time in world history that is simultaneously lighthearted and surprisingly violent.
As the movie opens, it’s 1969 in Belfast, Northern Ireland and Branagh sets his story during the time of The Troubles which was an ethnographic conflict between Protestants and Catholics.
A family is caught in the middle of the war and they’re never quite named except they go by the youngest son, Buddy (Jude Hill); his mother “Ma” (Catriona Balfe); his father “Pa” (Jamie Dornan); his older brother, Will (Lewis McAskie); and his grandparents, “Pop” (Ciaran Hinds) and “Granny” (Judi Dench).
Buddy and his family do their best to stay out of the conflict by going about their everyday lives: His dad travels frequently on business to England while his mother stays home to take of their children and his grandparents provide the necessary solace and occasional pearl of wisdom Buddy needs every now and then.
The conflict grows increasingly worse and it leads the family to contemplate leaving Belfast for either Sydney or Vancouver. Buddy is dead set against it as he prefers living in the only home he’s ever known and possibly abandoning his first crush (Olive Tennant).
Branagh tells this story in such a fashion that we forget we’re seeing a movie. In its basic framework, it feels much more like a documentary of who these people are and the traditions and beliefs that they live by.
The look and feel of this movie are absolutely exhilarating. It’s a triumph of production design and cinematography that brings Ireland to spectacular yet humble life. The streets in which Buddy and his family live deserve recognition for their clarity and realism.
Branagh directs and writes this film with a voyeuristic perspective that we know these characters innately and we understand their fears, hopes, and desires in such a way that feels very much like an authentic experience.
Belfast is a film that is perceptive and evocative from start to finish.
Grade: A
(Rated PG-13 for some violence and strong language.)
