Amidst the beginning of the Troubles, the Northern Ireland Conflict, Belfast catalogues the days of schoolboy Buddy (Jude Hill), as his family weighs up the costs and benefits of leaving their home for a new and safer start elsewhere. Loving his warmly tight-knit community in Belfast, with his mother known as Ma (Caitriona Balfe), Buddy’s family avoids the worst of a riot along their street due to being Protestant, but while tensions rise, Pa (Jamie Dornan) cannot be home as much as he’d like, working as a valued labourer in London. Written and directed by Kenneth Branagh, around the halfway mark I began to suspect that this movie must be based on Branagh’s own boyhood stories, and what a deeply rich way to tell ones biography. The movie is mostly in black and white, allowing for moments of colour in scenes where theatre or cinema take place, which I think is suggesting how those moments are timeless, or they’re the childhood moments where Buddy felt most alive – considering Branagh became a filmmaker, it’s a fair argument to make. Buddy is even reading a cheeky little Thor comic at one point too, and the movie could have put that in colour, considering Branagh would take up the material as director later on, but that might’ve been too brash. But still, speaking of colour, I also love how the movie opens with simple overhead shots of current day Belfast, before sliding back into the history that formed the beautifully modern and clean city we see now today – it reminded me of Gangs of New York, which does a similar thing, but at the movie’s end; this works even better, framing the action before us.
As the movie starts, it sadly came to my recollection that the conflicts of Northern Ireland, England and Ireland, are a blind spot in my knowledge of human history – Sunday Bloody Sunday, and all that jazz. What’s the difference between a Catholic and a Protestant anyway? Well, as the movie informs me, from its perspective, a Catholic believes in the practice of confession, whereby a member can admit to sins and be absolved instantly, which is an insult to some Protestants, as it weakens the meaning of being ‘devout’, as they see it. After a very brutal opening scene, the movie finds a real balance between the threat of danger, and the wonder that comes through Buddy’s childhood experience. Whilst the hostilities are ever present, with war-like barricades blocking the streets, Buddy still fills his days exploring a childhood crush, and getting into mischief with his friend Moira (Lara McDonald). I’d say I found Belfast is almost elevated coming out during our COVID-19, as our hard times are not as violent, but reading back on right now in textbooks years later, history will skip over the day-to-day joys and smiles we’ve still managed in dark times… as life, will not be contained, life finds a way…
Belfast is most heart-warming watching Buddy’s bond with his grandparents. It’s a shame that Pop (Ciaran Hinds) had to pass away; due to sickness, his death was always on the cards in this movie, but Ciaran Hinds’ performance is so special, that it was already evident that every minute should be savoured in his presence. Pop just seemed like the best Grandpappy anyone could ask for; a deep thinker, as Pa puts it, which happily translates outwards through listening and empathy – Hinds has done a quick turn about from wanting to demolish the world in Zack Snyder’s Justice League, I can tell you that. Switching grandparents now, and my Nan used to natter away through the cinema, as Granny (Judi Dench) does here in theatre 😂 what do you do? You just have to go with it and realise they’re having fun. I found a comforting familiarity with Judi Dench’s Granny and Buddy, and my time with my Nan. It was lovely, and Granny’s reaction to hearing about Chitty Chitty Bang Bang is the funniest thing I’ve heard all year – I laughed out loud, and probably incurred the wrath of my screening when I remembered it through a more serious moment, and chuckled again – sorry! But with the idea of a movie with a ‘flying car’, she’s heard everything; imagine Granny with a modern movie, imagine her with Avatar.
And it’s been easy to dismiss Jamie Dornan in the past years for those Fifty Shades’ movies, but as the most surprising part in Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar last year and now this, Dornan is a serious star, and an actor deserving of our attention. He’s in that new Australian TV series called The Tourist on Stan they were advertising through the tennis, and maybe it’s worth checking out. The song and dance number for ‘Everlasting Love’ came out of nowhere, and is so lively; Dornan is charming, and Caitriona Balfe, so sexy. I also love this movie for the way it portrays this married couple with young children, yet to hold the wisdom that comes through parenthood later on; they are still green, and figuring it all out together. I can’t think of another movie where young parents feel so shaded, so human. It’s an accomplishment that must be attributed to the performances of Dornan and Balfe. When Ma forces Buddy to return that biological OMO to the store, I think it’s clear to us that she’s embarking on a pretty dangerous venture, humorously even, but as the movie addresses afterwards, Ma is trying to preserve her Belfast, and she’s overlooked how far gone this conflict has become in the process. It’s a mistake that I must make all the time; not necessarily living in the good old days, but wanting the good old days to continue when the world is always moving, doing its own thing.
And just continuing my egg commentary from Nightmare Alley, there’s a single shot of one of Buddy’s neighbours cracking an egg into what looks like just a pan of oil; not a good egg, and I suddenly don’t want eggs now.
The movie ends with Judi Dench talking directly to the camera – thank Christ she didn’t start telling us about Jellicle cats again or I might’ve gone vegetarian anti-Christ. Considering I wasn’t overly awed by Jojo Rabbit, another story about a young boy’s perspective through a horrible and hateful climate around him, I’m really glad I could enjoy this one. I can’t believe how much I connected to a story about a conflict where I only just discovered it’s true nature as the movie started. For a long while during the movie, I thought I was going to give Belfast a 4.5, but I’d be hard-pressed to justify leaving that last half a star on the table. Completely charming, completely competent.
5.0
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