Belfast (the film)

You can't really be online on a regular basis and not come across advertisements for the movie "Belfast". So I was well aware of it. And it looked like my kind of film. Just a family trying to move through life. So when one weekend had a weather forecast of wall-to-wall rain, and the film was shown in Pontio, I decided to go there. I like films, but don't go very often. In Amsterdam I did, but there were countless many arthouse cinemas within biking distance, and here in North Wales that is decidedly different. But never going is not a good option either. And my previous dose had been more a recorded interview than a full-flung film! 

It seemed no one else was keen so I did my usual thing and went alone. And there are spoiler alerts in the rest of the text.

To my surprise, the film started with aerial footage of modern day Belfast. I knew the film played decades ago. But it all would make sense. There was a reference to how stories begin, and the camera was raised over a wall in colour, and behind that was the black-and-white world of 1969. And it struck me as a rather old-fashioned version of 1969; I had no problem imagining my parents in that scene as little children, but in 1969 they had already met and were about to get married the following year. And they were not particularly young newlyweds! Was this part of Belfast a bit stuck in its ways? Or do I just have a weird view of Western Europe in the middle of the previous century?

Either way. It starts all rather idyllic, but you're not out of the first scene yet when a mob of Protestants marches into the street and starts bashing in the windows of houses that have Catholics in them, and throwing Molotov cocktails. It is deeply frightening. You don't see any people getting actually hurt, but you don't need to. And from there on it is clear that the question, whether it is verbalised or not, is whether to stay and try to make a positive difference, or to leave so as not to have to go through something like this again. The people from whose perspective you see this are a Protestant family consisting of a joiner father who works in England and comes back every other weekend, and a stay-at-home mum, and two sons; one primary school age and the other one of secondary school age. The perspective is mainly from Buddy, the young kid, but the hard decisions to be made are, of course, on the shoulders of the parents.

In the picture are also a girl that could be a cousin, and the boy's grandparents. It is painted as a rather close-knit community. Not very wealthy, but everybody knows everybody. And quite soon you also find hints of financial trouble caused by the husband.

From there the film spends several months in which there is pressure on the father to join the Protestant mob, and on the kids for functioning as things such as messenger boys for the same mob. You can see people recalibrate whether they can actually be friends with people of the other religion. And you can see the father wanting to take his family out of this situation of sectarian violence. He brings in flyers about Sydney and Vancouver. And there is also England, of course, where he works.

During one of the discussions between the parents the woman says that she doesn't know anything other than Belfast. She sees them as a reason to stay, while her husband sees it as a reason to leave. There is a whole world out there! But she really feels the pull of the local community. And she thinks she will be deracinated if she moves. And not just her; all of them. But apart from the violence, there is also massive unemployment, and the husband just wants to give his children both a nonviolent youth, and good job prospects afterwards. You could see both their points. I must say I sympathised with the man; my whole being wanted to move away from there right now. But I suppose I am speaking as someone who never really felt at home anywhere. Neither of my parents came from the town I grew up in, and neither are close with their family, so we already were just one family surrounded by largely anonymous people; we didn't need to move house for that. And when I grew up a bit I felt increasingly ill at ease; the town is a lot more religious and right wing than I am. So yes, I have never really felt that warm bath of a community where everybody knows everybody and where you are really sure that is where you belong. And I can imagine that if you do know that, you don't want to lose it.

Anyway; in the time that the parents have to make up their minds, the grandfather dies of lung problems (he has worked as a coalminer). And you see the grandmother suffering with that. And there is a confrontation that could easily have ended badly for several people in the family, including the kids. And that focuses the mind. They decide to take the offer of the man's employer to move to England. He will even earn more money there.

The film ends with the grandmother watching them leave by bus, telling them to go and not look back, and then lose it completely. I was close to tears seeing that. And then follows a dedication: to those who left. And to those who stayed. I immediately thought of "Green and Grey" by New Model Army. Although NMA is clearly on the side of those who stay.

Go see this film! Go see it if you just want to see a beautiful film. Go see it if you want to feel like you are inside the Troubles. Don't go see it if you want a happy story.

I was also impressed by some cinematic details. The film is in black and white, but there are flashes of colour in it. When the family goes either to the theatre or the cinema, whatever they see is in colour. The audience is in black-and-white, but the reflections in the glasses of the grandmother are in colour. And I seem to remember another reflection being in colour. I liked that detail.

I also liked the casting. I thought the entire cast did an amazing job.

I knew, of course, that it was all based on Kenneth Branagh's own life, but only when I looked up an interview with him afterwards did I realise how close it had been. I just hope he exaggerated the grief of his grandmother…

Scene from the film