Belfast (2021)

From what I had heard about the film “Belfast” I expected quite a documentary feel to the film with a focus on simply telling the story as it was. I was prepared for an emotional journey however I was not prepared for the emotional attachment to characters that I did get from the film. “Belfast” is a coming of age drama film with a strong message about the effects of conflict on youth. It's a semi-autobiographical film which chronicles the life of a working class family and their young son's childhood during the conflict of the late 1960s in the Northern Ireland capital “Belfast”. The plot is fairly easy to follow and tells a clear story with elements of truth. It's both enjoyable and emotional.

The main characters consist of Buddy, our young protagonist, played by Jude Hill and his family played by actors such as Jamie Dornan as “pa”, Caitríona Balfe as “ma”, Judi Dench as “granny” and Ciarán Hinds as “pop”. The naming of the characters added an additional sense of childlike innocence as we follow the story alongside “Buddy”, a young boy working his way through the conflict all while trying to hold onto his childhood. The actors played their roles well delivering believable and emotional performances helping to truly tell the story.

The camera work is great in the way it suits what is happening in the story at the time helping us to further understand certain feelings that the characters are experiencing and action that is taking place. The framing throughout the film caught my attention as they showed the relationships between characters well and provided interesting and beautiful scenes to watch. Especially the many scenes taking place in “granny” and “pops” garden, the placement of characters and position of camera added depth and layers to the scene.

I thoroughly enjoyed the film for its characters and cinematography as much as its story. The actors' performance was wonderful to watch and cinematography beautiful to see. In particular the scene where “pop’s” sung to “granny” while dancing with her in the living room stuck in my mind. Seeing such a heartwarming scene brought a certain amount of peace to mind that throughout all the heartbreak and opposition love prevailed which I also felt was a large message from the film as whole. Alongside this it reminded me personally of my own grandparents allowing me to sympathise with the character that bit more. Despite the majority of points to make about the film being great I did find some of the flow of scenes slightly choppy not disrupting viewers following the storyline but disturbing the actual flow of the film to some degree. This however could have been an active choice to present the disruption the conflict had inflicted on the lives of the people portrayed in the film.

A good film to compare to “Belfast” would be “Blue Island” directed by Chan Tze-woon. It focuses on the 2019–2020 Hong Kong protests, exploring the state of depression among the current citizens of Hong Kong as China consolidates its power over the metropolis. Although the films differ in genre “Blue island” being more of a documentary than “Belfast” they share similar themes and elements. The two tell stories and share experiences of both younger and older generations who are oppressed in the midst of conflict and opposition. If you enjoyed either of these films I urge you to check out the other! I would definitely recommend “Belfast” to others of both older and younger generations, I feel as though it brings a certain common ground to the otherwise completely opposite generations. We as young people learn more about the time period that older people experienced. On the other hand it may remind the older generations of their youth causing them to empathise with the younger generation. I encourage you, no matter what age or nationality, to go see the film “Belfast”!