Belfast

By Linda Winsh-Bolard

Belfast is not a movie about growing up, despite having a cute boy as the main protagonist.

Belfast is a memory. The memory of a particular time in Kenneth Branagh's life, of the moment when life broke, was divided into two parts: before and after.

A boy lives on a perfectly ordinary street in his time and place. Enjoys ordinary things: games, relatives, a budding interest in girls and a curiosity about the forbidden, in his case, Irish gangs.
Like all children living under oppression of any kind, he has developed, without realizing any of it, the particular skill of surviving in potentially dangerous situations where all questions are answered, but all answers are bland, providing no details. It is a skill that anyone growing up in such circumstances immediately recognizes.
Children accept the world as it is. It is the privilege of the very young. They do not have enough knowledge or experience to question, analyze, or fear. It is what it is.

Catholics and Protestants live separately in Belfast. Children might attend the same schools, but they do not socialize. The other side remains a mystery. Tempting mystery, especially when it comes as a lovely, smart little girl.

And then everything changes.

A bomb goes off, and time stops.

Filmically, this is a wonderful moment. The world freezes in sudden, complete silence. As time and understanding halts, bits and pieces fly about, unrecognized and unrecognizable.

We have all lived through moments of sudden change. Minute details stood in harsh relief while the past and the future disappeared.

Kenneth Branagh got this moment absolutely right.

Then the silence breaks. Mom grabs the boy and runs , dragging him along, to hide at home.

The Troubles came to this street in Belfast.

We get to see some of it. Most of the movie is far more intimate. It is what a little boy would see and live through. Ordinary working people, facing choices they do not want to make.
Contrary to expectations, it delivers quite a few humorous scenes. It is a drama, but it is not depressing.

Expecting more is not doing justice to what this film is about. A moment breaking someone's life.

We all know that Kenneth Branagh ended up in England, and we know part of what got him there.

The grandfather is incredibly well played by Ciaran Hind. Hind projects the kind of warmth, understanding, and skills that make him human, truly believable in this part. Few actors are this good. Judy Dench, the grandmother, nearly matching Hind, has the last, devastating, line.

As always, she delivers.


It is shot in black and white. The roaring 60s were not colorful for everyone.

Classically framed, edited, and directed. It tells the story very well.

It's impossible not to nominate it for an Oscar. The chances of getting one are fairly small. Belfast does not preach, deliver any ideological platform or examine political failings. Kids are unable to do any of this, and Belfast is a story of a kid leaving his home, and that is all it is.
Despite it being a film's film, in this age and time, critics will find it wanting.



Directed and written by Kenneth Branagh
Starring: Caitríona Balfe; Judi Dench; Jamie Dornan; Ciarán Hinds; Colin Morgan; Josie Walker; Jude Hill
Music by: Van Morrison