Blitz Review
When Hitler bombed Britain in the early years of World War II, the only thing the people could do was hide in bunkers and subterranean tunnels and hope for the best. Director Steve McQueen immerses his audience in that horrifying period by starting his new picture, “Blitz,” in the middle of an attack. Firefighters rush to contain an uncontrollable fire, but it appears like there is no chance of success.
and there will be more explosives soon. Before a piano tune takes over and the action shifts to our characters’ home, the screen quickly changes to a sequence of images, including a closeup of what appears to be speeding water, static, and a silent view of black and white daffodils. Although it’s encouraging to see that McQueen still has an experimental flair, those only offer a brief reprieve from the grim reality of watching war from one’s doorstep.
Rita (Saoirse Ronan), her piano-playing father Gerald (musician Paul Weller), and her precocious 9-year-old son George (Elliot Heffernan) live in a working-class neighborhood under siege from German bombs. Afraid for her son’s safety, Rita sends him to the country, but George, already tired from bullies on the train and homesick, jumps off the locomotive and begins a harrowing journey home. Meanwhile, Rita is holding her own against the demands of factory work, volunteering at a shelter for her displaced neighbors, and memories of the too-brief time she spent with George’s dad before the news of her son’s disappearance throws her world further into chaos.
Certainly, other movies have taken on the Blitz, like “The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp,” “Hope and Glory,” “Atonement,” and “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and Wardrobe,” which begins with a group of siblings heading to the countryside for their safety. But the Blitz is not a passing coda, invisible threat, or quick sequence of events. McQueen’s film is very much about the ordeal of surviving day after day of terror, death, and destruction.
Hans Zimmer scores these events with discordant and jarring chords that seem vaguely electronic and metallic as if the sounds were bouncing off trains and bombs. “Oliver Twist” and “Empire of the Sun,” which require a child to grow up fast in the face of impossibilities, appear to have influenced George’s story. He moves through death, danger, and the confusing system of transit with determined solemnity, always on guard in case the authorities attempt to re-board him on a train to the countryside.
As George, Heffernan delivers a marvelous, rich, and varied performance, playful, inquisitive, brave, and stoic. There is danger in almost every turn of George’s way home, and the movie keeps the stakes high until just before the credits roll. The story follows his experience just as closely as it does his mother, Rita, and all of her grown-up problems.
As Rita, Ronan stands out in every shot thanks to her stellar performance as a concerned mother who will stop at nothing to do right by her son, McQueen’s direction, cinematographer Yorick Le Saux, and the production teams that meticulously color coordinated the sets, costume, and makeup to draw our attention to her. Le Saux, whose previous credits include “Little Women,” “High Life,” and “Only Lovers Left Alive,” strikes this sumptuous tone in the lighting, bringing to life the rich colors and period details, like the dark wooden glow of a crowded dance hall, the sea of factory blues, and endless rows of brown brick walls.
Rita’s scarlet lipstick and coat pop dramatically into the movie’s focus, not unlike the little red coat in Steven Spielberg’s “Schindler’s List.” The camera uses many closeups to enhance the characters’ experiences, like seeing the mud on George’s shoes after he’s traveled for hours or when Rita’s coworkers draw on tight lines to seem more sophisticated to the lads at the bar. The most rousing scene in the movie is the film’s passionate all-out dance scene in a small club where Rita and George’s father party.
He once again encapsulates the euphoric, full-body experience of a good round of dancing, as McQueen did in “Lovers Rock,” and it’s entertaining to watch even when it’s interspersed with awful things. Although they have little to do with the plot, these elements help the audience understand the characters’ time, feelings, and environment.
“Blitz,” which was written and directed by McQueen, delves deeper than the period’s psychological and physical conflicts. Additionally, it reveals the racial stereotypes prevalent in Britain during that era, a topic he also explored in his remarkable “Small Axe” series. George, a young mixed youngster, is cruelly bullied by white bullies due to his appearance. His father had been attacked in the street years prior, taken into custody, and sent back to Grenada.
When George meets a friendly Nigerian soldier named Ife (Benjamin Clémentine), he tells the soldier he is not Black, and only after seeing Ife step up for other marginalized communities in a shelter does he change his answer and embrace his Black identity. The cinematic representation of the Black British experience in this era is almost nonexistent, and it becomes one of the moving throughlines of the story, even if it feels a bit uneven at times. Some of McQueen’s writing errs on the heavy-handed or clumsy side, which is at odds with the disciplined visual storyteller’s style. Ife’s clunky speech about Hitler dividing people or another man’s comparison of socialism to Christianity while stirring, lacks the finesse of McQueen’s direction.
“Blitz” is a stunning historical drama that is primarily motivated by the stories of its protagonists, despite these problems. The atmosphere is invariably one of dread, as dense as the fog of London. The eerie cries of air raid sirens are never far away. Death threats from above are common interruptions to dinners, parties, and bedtime. Life, however, continues. Before their pattern is disturbed, Rita goes back to work in the factory, Gerald listens to the radio, and George plays with his cat. The film, which is regrettably still all too familiar nearly a century later, is more than just a glitzy historical drama; it is an emotive tale of human tenacity.
