by Julian Wood
Worth: $14.00
FilmInk rates movies out of $20 — the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worth
Cast:
Saoirse Ronan, Stephen Graham, Elliott Heffernan, Paul Weller, Harris Dickinson
Intro:
The set design and cinematography and editing are all excellent and the film has three or four memorable set pieces.
The Blitz (ironically derived from a German word of course) was a common term in England during the second world war, so it is a perfect metonymic title for Steve McQueen’s semi-autobiographical tale of a childhood. The German bombing of the English cities (in this case London) was a nightly experience, which both terrified civilians and forced a resilience and a banding together in the effort to survive. Blacking out the windows and listening out for the sirens was part of it, but so was heading down into the tube stations in the hope of sleeping safely. In an effort to protect them, many of the children were boarded out during this time and this is the experience of the central character of the film George (an admirable debut from Eliott Heffernan). He is so distraught at being separated from his mother and grandad that he jumps the train and tries to make his way back to his south London home on his own.
Steve McQueen (Hunger, Shame, 12 Years a Slave, Small Axe) is only in his 50s, so he would have been too young to experience this sort of childhood firsthand, but George’s odyssey is somehow close to his heart. As a black kid, he no doubt had both the contrasting experiences of kindness and of downright racism that George faces here.
The emotional heart of the film is the close bond between a mother and her only child. The mother is played by the wonderfully versatile Irish actress Saoirse Ronan. George’s grandad is musical (played by one-time leader of The Jam, Paul Weller, who isn’t required to do much acting, but he has screen presence, nonetheless) and he teaches the young man how to play the piano.
It is no great criticism to point out that this is not up to the standard of some of McQueen’s past work. We are, however, reminded that he is a very accomplished filmmaker and that this is clearly something of a passion project. He has certainly thrown everything at it. The set design and cinematography and editing are all excellent and the film has three or four memorable set pieces. It suffers in terms of its structure [something that too many Apple TV+ productions exhibit]. We know that George is headed home but, because the film is necessarily episodic, it is hard to know when it will end and at times it does feel too drawn out. There are some that will no doubt criticise its lapses into sentimentality and mawkishness. However, there is enough craft and heart to carry the day.
