I have yet to meet a Steve McQueen (the director) movie I didn't like. The story in Blitz didn't excite me when I heard about it but it wasn't far into the runtime of this film when I knew I was in for another wonderful movie from this dynamic film maker. So much of this is in how he tells this story but the other key piece is the performance of Elliott Heffernan who is certainly a young actor to watch going forward with immense natural talent and screen presence.
Blitz is the story of a boy sent away from London and his working class single mom during WWII to the country to avoid the bombings, who jumps off the train (therefore not discovering a wardrobe with a magic door to another world) and runs back to London looking for her amongst the chaos of the besieged city. Along the way he encounters some of the best and worst of humanity and suffers great loss. It is remarkably powerful and devastating, yet manages to find hope without descending into schmaltzy sentiment or coincidental conveniences.
Heffernan is a revelation and carries this film so naturally. We experience war through the eyes of a child and this gives us the perspective to see its madness and cruelty. The "rational" actions of adults just don't make sense in this context or truly in any context. Blitz highlights this which is a big part of its genius.
For the me the film's ending felt a bit anti-climactic after its quite honest and unflinching view on its events up to that point. The lack of a crescendo into some horrible revelation or triumphant reunion didn't take away from the rest of the film but also never delivered on the promise either. I get the point. The ending in its relative banality is likely far more realistic than what we expect in these sorts of films. But perhaps I just had hoped for a little more emotional resonance.
Still Blitz is wonderfully engaging especially in moments of real joy and real terror. Scenes of Londoners partying, attempting to give a middle finger to the bombs raining down on them, were delicious while there are moments of sheer horror like the flooding of a tube station where people had taken refuge. Blitz continues a trend of McQueen having one of the strongest records of any of today's working directors. Bring on whatever is next!
Blitz
Starring: Elliott Heffernan, Saoirse Ronan, Harris Dickinson, Benjamin Clementine, Kathy Burke, Paul Weller, Stephen Graham
Writer/Director: Steve McQueen
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