Belfast (2021)

Directed by: Kenneth Branagh | 98 minutes | biography, drama | Actors: Judi Dench, Jamie Dornan, Caitriona Balfe, Ciarán Hinds, Jude Hill, Lewis McAskie, Ciarán Hinds, Josie Walker, Freya Yates, Nessa Eriksson, Charlie Barnard, Frankie Hastings, Máiréad Tyers, Caolan McCarthy, Ian Dunnett Jnr, Michael Maloney

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, two films with Sir Kenneth Branagh as director at the helm will hit Dutch cinemas almost simultaneously. On the one hand, you have the major Hollywood production ‘Death on the Nile’ (2022), in which Branagh also takes on the lead role of the fictional Belgian detective Hercule Poirot, and on the other hand, the small black-and-white arthouse film ‘Belfast ‘, based on Branagh’s childhood in the Northern Ireland capital. However, while Branagh’s second Poirot film, now the fifth reincarnation of Agatha Christie’s creation on the big screen, has met moderate critical acclaim far out of sight of the Nile, ‘Belfast’ has already racked up seven Oscar nominations. So, there’s no shortage of praise and attention for Branagh’s film about his childhood during The Troubles, an ethnic-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland that lasted from the late 1960s to the late 1990s. Also known as a “low-level war”, this large-scale conflict, while not solely on religious grounds, involved a struggle between Protestants and Catholics in Northern Ireland and beyond, with violence spreading to the Republic of Ireland. Ireland, England, and in mainland Europe, see the recent TV miniseries ‘The Spectacular’ (Willem Bosch, 2021). Poirot had bitten to pieces on this highly complex socio-political puzzle in Northern Ireland, but the family in ‘Belfast’ is not easy to catch.

After images of the current, correspondingly peaceful, Belfast, the film immediately throws you into sectarian violence in the city at the end of the 1960s. Technically, this sequence runs smoothly in which cinematographic highlights, such as 360-degree camera movements and drone shots, are not shunned. Moreover, it shows how such violent outbursts affect the main character, nine-year-old Buddy, who finds the distinction between his Protestant and Catholic neighbors arbitrary. However, according to the preacher’s thundering sermons, there are only two directions in earthly life, that of the bad or the good. Only you know which road you will take at this T-junction, and God, of course. It keeps the kid awake all night.

Also next to the pulpit are characters with witty wisdom about the fate of the Northern Irish: “The Irish were born for leavin’, otherwise the rest of the world would have no pubs”, says an aunt to Buddy’s mother. However, that does not alter the fact that this family struggles heavily with their situation. A struggle that likes to be enlightened with cinema entertainment, Buddy is after all a big fan of the silver screen. ‘Belfast’ is full of fragments from classic Hollywood films that make the boy’s imagination run wild. For example, the American westerns ‘The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance’ (John Ford, 1962) and ‘High Noon’ (Fred Zinnemann, 1952) are shown on TV. In addition, the family visits unabashed and colorful blockbusters from the past, such as ‘Chitty Chitty Bang Bang’ (Ken Hughes, 1968) and ‘One Million Years BC’ (Don Chaffey, 1966). Also, when Grandma drags Buddy along to an iteration of “Christmas Carol” at a local theater, though faded, the screen colors. The contrast between the black and white of ‘Belfast’ itself and the color that rollercoaster cinema and modest theater give to Buddy’s life is, of course, striking in the light of Branagh’s life, but also somewhat wry in the historical context. As if Branagh is preaching: the art of imagination gives color to existence, perhaps even more so during a conflict situation.

The bright Buddy adores his father and grandfather, but ‘Belfast’ is above all an ode to his mother, as a wonder woman played by Caitriona Balfe, and cheerful grandmother (Dame Judi Dench). These were the strong women behind the scenes, now full of the spotlight. Their sacrifices and sorrows were significantly different from those of the hard-working, and sometimes abroad, husbands. The question remains: to what extent has Buddy been left with trauma from all that violence around the corner? Here the film keeps to the surface and that makes the assumed perspective of a nine-year-old somewhat stuffy. ‘Hope and Glory’ (John Boorman, 1987) and ‘Empire of the Sun’ (Steven Spielberg, 1987), which also focus on a child’s gaze, deal with this in a more nuanced, less nostalgic way.

Branagh’s gaze clearly refuses to take sides in history. Given the complexity and the still-present legacy of The Troubles, this is very understandable. Nevertheless, this conflict has the film in its power. Both the father, the eldest son and Buddy are recruited by radical Protestant factions. Yet the film shows Buddy’s family as undiminished progressive, admirably incorruptible. A few times the story almost says out loud that they absolutely do not want to take sides, everyone is welcome regardless of faith. Eventually the family moves to ‘free and quiet’ England. With a better chance of a future in their eyes. But wasn’t the conflict there too? After all, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher became a bit of the personification of how England dealt with The Troubles ten years later: unrelenting. Somehow this is a somewhat favorable omission in ‘Belfast’.

In the end ‘Belfast’ skilfully hit the bull’s eye, ‘Death on the Nile’ is just weak tea. The smaller of the two harbors more emotional impact and layered (gallows) humor anyway. In addition, with that mistrust, that threat and that violence in the background, it makes the togetherness of a neighborhood and family touchingly palpable. However, Branagh’s baby digs less deeply into that past than Poirot would out of a sense of duty. For semi-biographical film, the acclaimed Shakespearean interpreter clearly chooses life, and thus not to get stuck in The Troubles. Nevertheless, this is a bit of a squeeze, because ‘Belfast’ feels too neatly raked in politically and emotionally. The liberating journey of Buddy’s family was not for many others from the Northern Irish capital.