Kenneth Branagh talks about his Irish childhood in the midst of the civil war

Eclectic in his choices, Kenneth Branagh filmed all genres after Henry V, his first movie. In Belfast on the screens Wednesday, March 2, he revisits the year of his 9 years in a city that is on fire between Protestants and Catholics. Years of embers evoked with lyricism, in black and white, with an amazing young actor (Jude Hill). The film was nominated seven times for the Oscars, notably in the categories mbest film and best director.

Buddy is having a blast with his neighborhood buddies. Everyone gets along well, it’s the holidays this summer of 1969 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Until a Protestant league revolts against the Catholics they want to dislodge from the neighborhood. Buddy’s parents, Protestants, do not want to participate in the abuses and are soon persecuted by a ringleader. As shops are looted, houses and cars burned, Buddy makes his way, surrounded by a family united in adversity.

Director John Boorman is like Irish Kenneth Branagh. At the turn of the fifties, he told in Hope and Glory his childhood in London during the Second World War. In his sixties, Branagh also recounts his war, but of a completely different nature, civil, in Belfast. The two men felt the same need, at a pivotal age in life, to print on film a memory that puts intimate story and the big story. Another common point: the vitality of the characters and family cohesion in the face of a crisis situation. With a constant gaze of the child, who participates in a romance crossed by drama and comedy.

First in color, the film quickly slips into the black and white of the streets of a district of Belfast teeming with children. Branagh idealizes this moment to better immerse us in the horror of outbursts, especially when attacking a craftsman. The family that had lived in perfect harmony until now becomes the target of a leader of his own faith, a demonstration of the absurdity of civil wars.

Buddy’s father, working in London, travels back and forth to Belfast incessantly. This absence at the heart of the childish drama is however absent from the film, the father being in each scene. This gap could be the film’s weakness. Branagh recounts his only happy memories lived between a son and his father in these times of “war”. But also with his mother, interpreted by Caitríona balfe, the revelation of the film, perfect as a woman of the 60s and 70s. The director is hypnotized by the actress and so are we. Happiness also to find Juddie Dench, nominated for the Oscars for this very beautiful film.

Kind : Drama
Director: Kenneth Branagh
Actors: Caitriona Balfe, Jamie Dornan, Jude Hill, Juddie Dench, Ciarán Hinds
Duration : 1h39
Country : Britain
Exit : March 2, 2022
Distributer : Universal Pictures International

Summary: Summer 1969: Buddy, 9, knows perfectly well who he is and to what world he belongs, that of the working class of the northern districts of Belfast where he lives happily, pampered and safe.
But towards the end of the 1960s, when the first man set foot on the Moon and the heat of August was still being felt, Buddy’s childhood dreams turned into a nightmare. The latent social unrest suddenly turns into violence in the streets of the neighborhood. Buddy discovers chaos and hysteria, a new urban landscape filled with barriers and controls, and populated by good guys and bad guys.