Winner of the coveted Audience Award at the Toronto Film Festival, Belfast is now one of the favorites for the next awards season and may well be doing well at Oscar night. It is true that this new feature film by Kenneth Branagh, drawn from the childhood memories of the screenwriter and filmmaker, is endearing in more than one way. However, too thin a social and political context risks losing spectators along the way.
Even if it is not the same armed conflict, one can easily establish a link between Belfast and Hope and Glory, a famous film by John Boorman in which an English kid discovered the joys of life as World War II raged around him. Kenneth Branagh, also famous as an actor, began his career as a filmmaker by adapting Shakespeare (Henry V) and then followed an eclectic journey that further led him to the universe of Agatha Christie (The crime of the Orient Express ; Death on the Nile is expected in 2022) as well as that of Charles Perreault (Cinderella) and Marvel superheroes (Thor). At 60, he is now presenting his most personal film, a sort of tribute to his hometown and the people who live there, trapped for two decades in a civil conflict marked by violent attacks.
Set in 1969, as social tensions between Catholics and Protestants worsen in Northern Ireland, the story describes the journey of Buddy (Jude Hill, formidable), a 9-year-old boy (the same age as Branagh was at the time) and his family. Shot mostly in black and white, Belfast thus relates, through the eyes of a child, a conflict at the center of which is this Protestant family, which lives in a neighborhood where Catholics also live. Tensions are so high that the father (Jamie Dornan, also of Northern Irish origin), called for work to cross often to Great Britain, thinks of taking his family there with him.
A question of rooting
However, and this is one of the qualities of Kenneth Branagh’s screenplay, the attachment of the protagonists to their part of the country is very well mentioned, in particular thanks to the strength of family ties. The couple of grandparents (magnificent Judi Dench and Ciarán Hinds) embody precisely this desire for continuity, despite the pitfalls. This aging couple is also portrayed with great affection. The character of the mother (Caitríona Balfe), a well-rooted woman to whom it will not even occur to mind to move elsewhere, is also very solid. It is also worth emphasizing the overall quality of a first-class distribution.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY UNIVERSAL PICTURES CANADA
Caitríona Balfe and Jamie Dornan in Belfast, a film for which Kenneth Branagh signs the screenplay and direction.
Dotted with some powerful scenes, others more astonishing (the scene sung and danced between the parents is very beautiful, but occurs rather unexpectedly), Belfast suffers, however, from a lack of a broader vision.
We could have better explained the ins and outs of a chapter in the history of Northern Ireland which risks escaping the comprehension of the international public.
Also, a warning is in order. Unless you have a really good ear for the Irish accent, it is imperative to see this feature film in French. Unfortunately, Belfast is not available in the original version with subtitles in Quebec.
Indoors
Consult the film schedule
Drama
Belfast
Kenneth branagh
With Caitríona Balfe, Jamie Dornan, Jude Hill
1 h 38