Review by Brad Balfour
Film: “Blitz”
Director: Steve McQueen
Cast: Saoirse Ronan, Elliott Heffernan, Kathy Burke, Benjamin Clémentine, Harris Dickinson, Stephen Graham, Hayley Squires, Paul Weller
As the Closing Night selection of New York Film Festival ’62, director Steve McQueen’s “Blitz” made its North American Premiere this month and a huge mark on the audiences that saw it. While many other films in the Festival might have provoked more head-scratching, “Blitz” seemed to be a timely and tightly constructed closer for such an auspicious fest.
The military term “Blitzkrieg” was applied the German World War II tactic meaning a “lightning war (fast attack).” It became applied to the unrelenting bombing assaults on England at the start of World War II. While most war films depict the efforts of soldiers to annihilate one another, McQueen does something rarely seen — he examines the impact such carpet bombing has on civilians trying to survive the war.
In doing so, the British filmmaker found a human lens through which to experience such a devastating situation — one not too dissimilar from what is happening in Gaza right now. The film does more than address the mind-shattering consequences of grueling and unrelenting bombing. McQueen constructs a thoroughly complex story layered with many social issues of the day.
The tissue that runs through the film is ostensibly about two simple, entwined story lines as Mom Rita (Saoirse Ronan) searches for her nine-year-old son, George (Elliott Heffernan). He abruptly runs away after he’s sent to the countryside where he can live safely away from the bombing.
Built around lots of vignettes as it alternates between mom and son, this piece of cinematic artistry authentically captures the zeitgeist of war-torn London. Within the often dark and somber labyrinth of this metropolis under siege, the narrative is alternately tender and harshly painful. It includes many scenes of characters dying after the audience has formed some connection with them.
Overwhelming and exhausting, the movie nonetheless establishes many substantial characters through a finely tuned cinematic shorthand. Ronan and Heffernan emotionally match one another, moment to moment. The superb supporting cast –– including Kathy Burke, Benjamin Clémentine, Harris Dickinson, Stephen Graham, Hayley Squires, and Paul Weller –– fleshes out this Homeric tale as it wends its way to its inevitable yet unexpected conclusion.
McQueen’s compelling narrative offers a multicultural view of 1940s London that’s too infrequently seen on screens. It subtly incorporates matters of racism, fear of foreigners, demagoguery, anti-Semitism and more within its scope of storytelling without seeming forced or wedged into the narrative. It even has a Jewish little person rallying the disparate shelter residents with socialist rhetoric.
“Blitz” feels positively comfortable with many of the conventions of a traditional Hollywood film. It’s uniformly superb in both its acting and the compelling visuals of cinematographer, Yorick Le Saux. The excellent production design (capturing a crumbling London, a buzzing nightclub, and a sweltering bomb shelter) is bolstered by Jacqueline Durran’s striking costume design and a pulsing score from composer Hans Zimmer.
There is little of the shocking imagery found in McQueen’s earlier features such as “Hunger” and “12 Years a Slave”, or his avant-gardism often explored in his shorts. Though comparatively conventional, “Blitz” provides such a cinematic experience that it warrants more praise than criticism.
As such, this film that provides a dilemma for its stars. Will young Heffernan land a Best Actor nod in various award listings? Will Ronan get a Best Supporting Actress acknowledgement? At only age 30, Ronan’s nominations streak continues. She’s already been listed four times, most recently for “Little Women.” And now, the Bronx-born, Dublin-raised performer is in the mix for two films this year — as the lead in the gritty indie, “The Outrun,” and for this saga. Will this be her moment for an Oscar win?
Hey, even without the Ramones’ “Blitzkrieg Bop” blaring in the background, “Blitz” is likely to storm its way along the awards circuit.