Belfast: A Personal Coming-of-Age Story in a Troubling Time

Soaring above modern-day Belfast in color turns into a black and white scene of an active working-class neighborhood with kids playing in the streets and Moms keeping watch and chattering with the neighbors. This tranquility is fleeting as the street transforms into a war zone with Protestants marching through throwing rocks, looting Catholic-owned stores, and burning cars. Young Buddy’s trash can lid goes from a make-believe prop to a shield from the shower of rocks. So begins Belfast and Northern Ireland’s Troubles in 1969.

Belfast is based on director Kenneth Branagh’s (My Week with Marilyn, Murder on the Orient Express) childhood through the eyes of nine-year old Buddy, played by newcomer Jude Hill. Buddy’s Mom (Caitrona Balfe, Outlander) tries to keep the house afloat and take care of Buddy, his older brother, and the grandparents. Father (James Dornan, Fifty Shades of Grey) is off working construction in England for weeks at a time. Grandmother, (Judi Dench, Shakespeare in Love) and Grandfather (Ciaran Hinds, Munich) putter around and share their wisdom with Buddy. Grandpa’s advice to Buddy on how to improve his grades and win the girl is priceless.

The entire film is shot in black and white, except for when the family attends the movies, a highlight in life for Buddy (and Branagh as a kid). The color contrast of Raquel Welsh in One Million Years B.C and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang exalt the magical escapism of the movies. The Van Morrison-dominated soundtrack is especially fitting. The eight classics and one new song he wrote for the film ring of Belfast. Really, who better than Belfast native Morrison?

Buddy’s life is school, playing, movies, stealing candy, a crush on a classmate, and a disconcerting dread as he observes his parents’ strife. He sees it in their eyes as they struggle to pay the bills and fear more violence is coming (and it is). He hears bits and pieces of adult conversation through the hallways, open windows, while watching Star Trek, and from out on the toilet (a toilet out back has become a throne to hold court). This is the film’s balancing act, interspersing Buddy’s childhood world view and experience between the violence of The Troubles. Buddy’s world wins out. The family continues to dance, sing, and laugh amidst the uncertainty of their future.

While the film chooses sentimentality over religious violence, “the decision” increasingly lurks behind everyone in the tight-knit community. Do they stay put in the only place they’ve been their entire lives or relocate to somewhere safer and start over? The movie is dedicated to these souls: “For the ones who stayed, for the ones who left, and for all the ones who were lost.”

Belfast is still in select theaters. If you’re like me who makes it a point every year to see all the Best Pictures nominees before the Academy Awards, be sure to see it. It’s a lock for a Best Picture nomination. Maybe a first Oscar for Branagh after five previous nominations? Winning the People’s Choice Award at the Toronto Film Festival bodes well for its awards chances.

D² Rating ◼◼◼◩☐

Trivia ? – Branagh is known for starring and directing adaptations of this famous playwright?

Answer: William Shakespeare