Belfast Review

With recent films like Roma or Minari , one gets the feeling that there is a tendency among directors both veterans and newcomers to do a little introspective exercise to narrate a key moment in their lives but in a way that offers a piece of their soul, making it easy to connect with the public. And the truth is that in the face of awards such as the Oscars , voters should think the same, because these types of proposals usually work very well. And while the fate of today's movie awards is still a bit off the mark, he might as well join that group. This is Belfast.

Set in 1969 Northern Ireland, the story follows Buddy, a boy from a working-class neighborhood as he and his family deal with the conflicts of the time: the civil war between Protestants and Catholics, the escalation of violence on the streets and the complicated family situation they live in derived from his father's work. But even in the most tumultuous times, Buddy finds solace in his parents, his grandparents, and at the movies.

Although the story focuses on Buddy and has a lot of autobiographical history, the presentation of the city of Belfast by Kenneth Branagh is quite a declaration of intent., where it stops at the most emblematic buildings of the present in color to later give way to the past, to a less graceful time, making it clear that for the city to be what it is today it has had to suffer hardships, and that without Perhaps that story would not be what it is today, something that, on the other hand, can be applied to almost any city, only in this particular case it is clear from the first minute where the story is located. And the trip to the past in black and white, in addition to providing that darker and more nostalgic nuance, makes the viewer immediately get into conflict without being heartbreaking. Well Branaghpresents what is a common working-class neighborhood in Northern Ireland in the late 1960s, where children play in the street, everyone in the neighborhood knows each other, they go out to chat at the door of the house and in theory there is no palpable differences between the neighbors, at least until all that violence breaks out in the streets in particular and in the country in general.

However, among so much street violence, that conflict continues to be the backdrop to focus on Buddy's family and get out of there the snippets of humanity that go so well with this type of film .. That in the midst of all that war that turns friends into enemies and vice versa and where violence unfortunately ends up normalizing, there is still a minimum redoubt to bring out humanity. As the grandparents deal with the dilemmas of the smallest of the house with absolute naturalness, wanting the best for them, as the parents are divided between their wishes and what each one considers is best for the family and as life tries to follow its natural course despite everything, where the children continue to go to school and do the typical children's antics in the midst of all the chaos.

Getting this balance between tragic and hopeful is not easy. However, by playing so many topics with a certain respect and a lot of honesty, the result comes by itself. and BranaghHe knows how to capture with the camera the necessary emotions at each moment of the story, putting the technique at the service of the narration without leaving it as a mere personal and aesthetic display. The predominant point of view is that of Buddy, and that is why the scenes of riots in the street feel more chaotic, as they might be seen by a child who does not fully understand everything that is happening around him but so that the action is clearly seen; that in the discussions of the parents they opt for a hand-held camera technique, as if they were afraid to get closer to understand the whole origin of the discussion and respecting a certain distance so that they do not get to have the full context or the most difficult scenes. relatives in the form of a very open sequence shot, where the characters breathe in a natural environment while doing their daily tasks. They are formal details that elevate the script and suggest that no decision is made at random.

And if among all that confrontation there is still room for escape, it could not be other than through the cinema , where once again Branagh shows a lot of intelligence when it comes to portraying the feeling and emotion that is generated by watching a movie in the cinema, being the only occasion without counting the presentation of the city where color makes its way on the screen and that in the end is something universal: that it matters little where one comes from or their circumstances, that immersing oneself in other people's stories, either through the cinema or through television as Wandavision demonstrated(where they also played with black and white and color), one has an escape route for a certain period of time and it is in those small moments where comfort is found in the simplest things but of incalculable value.

While it is true that the great protagonist is Jude Hill as Buddy, the entire cast lives up to their characters and each one has their moment to shine individually. Ciaran Hinds and Judi Dench as the grandparents are the greatest exponent of that humanity and closeness in which the film is reinforced , Jamie Dorman as the father of the family who on more than one occasion finds himself against a rock and a hard place but still puts her family ahead, and of course, a wonderful Caitriona Balfe as the matriarch of the family, who in the end is the glue that holds them all together and whose conflict is the most interesting of all.

It could be argued that perhaps at some point it goes too sweet and that during a certain segment of the second act it is in danger of stalling, but in the end it is still a personal story told through the eyes of a child with a very balanced balance. well resolved. And that being such a personal story has many elements that transcend its borders and where a hopeful message never hurts.