Belfast

The films I've seen about The Troubles in Northern Ireland have pretty much been of a type. Odd Man Out, The Crying Game, In the Name of the Father, '71 - very good films, but all essentially bleak. Kenneth Branagh's Belfast is something different. The film is a charming paean to the city, and specifically Branagh's time growing up there. It opens during the August 1969 riots, generally regarded as the start of the conflict, and shows a group of Protestants attacking Catholic houses in the street where the young Ken surrogate, Buddy (Jude Hill) lives with his parents and brother. This shock is seen through Buddy's eyes, but rather than trauma, a creeping curiosity seeps out. Scenes of strife and looting on TV; politicians fannying about; English soldiers on the streets, these things all happen in the background for Buddy, leave that stuff to the adults. The perplexing notion of the 'two roads' sermon, given by a grotesque, Ian Paisley-like preacher, is returned to through the film. Buddy can't get his head around it, even sketching the roads on some paper and drawing a question mark at the fork. 

There's a generous serving of good-natured humour in Belfast, mostly as result of Buddy's innocence, but also often provided by the neighbours and extended family. Ciaran Hinds, as Pop, and Judi Dench as Granny, have a great double act going on, and there are some quality moments with a fry-up uncle and a tone deaf auntie. But the focus of the story is really on the parents and their tough decision to stick around in the increasingly dangerous city, or decamp to England, where Buddy's father works. And just a word on the folks - sure, I know beauty is subjective and all, but criminy, what a pair of dead set stunners! Ma is brilliantly played by Caitriona Balfe, and Jamie Dornan is almost as good as Pa. Their relationship isn't as strong as it could be. Pa likes a drink and a flutter, but doesn't like paying taxes, and Ma is struggling to run the family, pretty much by herself. The tension comes from wanting to stay but needing to go. As Branagh said in an interview with Stephen Colbert, 'Home isn't necessarily the bricks and mortar [...] but it's family'. 

The cinematography by Haris Zambarloukas deserves a mention here too. It's shot primarily in stark monochrome and it looks fantastic, the colourful exceptions being the family trips to the cinema to see films like One Million Years B.C. and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. This escapism informs the way Buddy (and Branagh) presumably coped with the turbulence in society at the time, and there are clear Cinema Paradiso vibes in this aspect of Belfast. The crowning glory though is the dance hall scene where Pa serenades Ma with 'Everlasting Love'. It feels like all the personal and social issues they've faced up to this point just melt away in this exuberant set piece. 

Belfast is a fine film that hovers close to the edge of sentimentality, but manages to be heart-felt and light enough to avoid landing in that territory. It deals with tolerance, diasporas, civic virtue, and taking the 'idea' of home with you wherever you go. Almost against my better judgement, I really enjoyed it. 

Belfast opens in Australia on Feb 3rd.

See also:

As mentioned, Giuseppe Tornatore's Cinema Paradiso (1988) is a touchstone, and Neil Jordan's The Crying Game (1992) is a great film about aspects of The Troubles.