Belfast (4K Dolby Vision) Movie Review

Kenneth Branagh's Civil War

by Casimir Harlow

Kenneth Branagh's impressively framed snapshot of The Troubles revisits a painful bit of history through the wide-eyed lens of a coming of age drama.

Determining to write and direct this, reportedly, his most personal film, veteran actor/director Branagh fashions a stunning black and white recounting of the tragic civil war chaos in Northern Ireland, setting the stage with rioting and firebombing, tanks and soldiers on the streets of Belfast, ministers preaching hell and damnation, and pressure to 'take a side', whilst following the boundlessly hopeful gaze of a 9-year-old boy caught up in the midst of it all.

This is a passion project, through and through

Buddy just wants to be a nine-year-old boy. He wants to play like a knight in the street, trash-can shield in hand. He wants to get lost in Westerns and dinosaur movies, and fantastical episodes of Star Trek. He wants to catch the gaze of the girl who sits near him in class - and doesn't care what religion she is. And paramount in his mind is a desperate desire to choose the "right" road in life, the echo of the booming voice of a sweaty minister spraying vitriol at him about the consequences of not doing so. What he doesn't understand is why people are throwing rocks through the windows on his street, setting fire to cars, threatening his mother - his father - to pay for 'protection' even though they're supposedly on the same 'side', and putting increasing pressure on his family to leave the country.

Belfast

Belfast comes to digital exactly one month after its theatrical release - a wisely short exclusivity window which will likely capitalise on the renewed interest in this film during the Awards season, with a whopping 131 nominations across the full spectrum of awards, including half a dozen BAFTA nominations and seven Oscar nods. But, as per the results of Golden Globes - winning one out of seven, for Best Screenplay - it will be interesting to see just how many of these nominations convert into full wins. It's available in 4K Dolby Vision with Dolby Atmos too, although currently only as a premium rental.

Branagh's film is an undeniably handsome one

Branagh's film is an undeniably handsome one, managing to at once both capture the period whilst also offering perfect precision detail (the eyes, in particular, are stunning), mainly through the use of black and white cinematography (and interspersed glimmers of colour through the fleeting trips to the cinema). It looks gorgeous, with a fabulous richness to the monochromatic palette. And the performances he elicits from the cast are impressive, no doubt. You can see why there are nominations to be levelled at this production, for sure, with the direction and performances doing the heavy lifting here, smoothing over an at-times slight narrative structure which isn't completely assured in its tonal shifts from drama to war to family strife to coming of age hope to tragedy, but does appear to be perfectly assured in its capturing of the very personal sentiments of the auteur in charge of it all.

This is a passion project, through and through, and Branagh succeeds in winning you over through sheer force of will. He finds ample support from the likes of Outlander's Caitríona Mary Balfe and Fifty Shades' Jamie Dornan - both putting in some of the best work of their careers - as well as heavyweights like Judi Dench and a scene-stealing Ciarán Hinds, and the wide eyed innocence of 9 year old Jude Hill. And he's further blessed by the support of Belfast native Van Morrison, who composed new material specifically for the film (the Atmos brings the rioting to punishing life, and gives the score fine prioritisation, but the song tracks - excepting the excellent bookends - do sometimes get a bit intrusively dominating).

All in all, it carries you through, making you forget the more clichéd approach to bringing cowboy Western standoffs to life, and forgive the light touch when it comes to penetrating issues of seething hatred that decimated a land. There's also the confusion which might be felt when deciding whether you're supposed to feel the threat of physical harm to this family or feel the childhood love of this young boy for his classmate from the other side (the answer is likely, you're supposed to feel both, but probably feel neither). In Branagh's hands, you're assured a warm ride (more PG than the 12A it's stamped with, likely only for the stage-setting scenes of sectarian rioting at the start and brief bad language at the end) in spite of the undeniably horrific situation, a fact which may not sit well with anybody who dwells too long on it. But this is about Branagh's memories, Branagh's childhood, and Branagh's messages of hope, all of which he navigates admirably.

Belfast is available as a premium from February 21st 2022, in 4K Dolby Vision with Dolby Atmos.



Scores

Verdict

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7

7
AVForumsSCORE
OUT OF
10

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