Belfast Review Moving & Personal Kenneth Branaghs Best Film In Years

Belfast Review: Moving & Personal, Kenneth Branagh’s Best Film In Years

A moving and well-acted film, Belfast explores the decisions families make in the wake of devastation and turmoil; it’s Branagh’s best film in years.

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Belfast Review Moving & Personal Kenneth Branaghs Best Film In Years

After a string of mediocre directing gigs over the last few years, Kenneth Branagh has found something special in Belfast, a semi-autobiographical story that serves as a love letter to the eponymous Northern Ireland city. Written and directed by Branagh, Belfast resonates in deep and unexpected ways. A moving and well-acted film, Belfast explores the decisions families make in the wake of devastation and turmoil; it’s Branagh’s best film in years.

Set in the late 1960s, Belfast follows Buddy (Jude Hill) and his working class household — mother (Caitriona Balfe), father (Jamie Dornan), brother (Lewis McAskie), and grandparents (Judi Dench and Ciarán Hinds) — whose world is shaken after an assault on the neighborhood’s Irish Catholic community by a group of Protestant unionists. Thus begins what is now referred to as The Troubles, an ethnonationalist conflict that lasted for three decades. Rocked by the tension and caught between leaving Belfast or staying, Branagh explores this tumultuous time period through Buddy’s eyes.

Belfast Review Moving & Personal Kenneth Branaghs Best Film In Years

Belfast is a slice of life kind of film, a way for Branagh to return to the past in a mournful, yet hopefully idealistic way. It’s a glimpse into a time and place that feels so close yet so far away, lovingly directed while revisiting events through the lens of memory — detailed to an extent, but fuzzy. Belfast is certainly more focused on the feelings it evokes, the specificity it details, and the deep sense of loss and love through everything. It’s a deeply personal film for Branagh, but it holds a universal connection for anyone who has ever had to leave their homeland behind due to conflict and turmoil. It speaks to the love and depth of one’s roots and how tied they can be to the past, and also the ways in which it influences memories of a moment lost to time that remain so incredibly significant.

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In Branagh’s film, Belfast’s people and the community they have built is just as important as anything else that is happening in the story. It’s what makes Belfast so emotionally effective, with Branagh balancing humor with the seriousness of the cataclysmic, life-changing events happening around the characters. While it doesn’t necessarily have anything of note to say about the overarching conflicts and hatred lobbied at the Irish Catholic community still living in town, other than it being terrible and horrifying, Belfast exudes a hopefulness that is elevated by bringing to life the camaraderie of the people and the neighborhood’s vibrant energy through the eyes of a child.

The film can be overly sentimental at times, sidestepping a deeper exploration of vulnerability and character dynamics. There are brief glimpses of it, mostly in the push-and-pull between Dornan and Balfe’s characters, who fight often about the safety and state of their family. But it’s in Belfast’s focus on the personal that brings the joy and somber notes to life. Harris Zambarloukos’ cinematography evokes an old-fashioned feel while the pop of color washing over aerial shots of the city in the present day, and which bookend the film, serve as a reminder of the passage of time. It’s touching, if heartbreaking all at once. These images quite clearly underscore a message: Belfast, still here and persevering despite everything.

Much of the emotion bubbling to the surface stems from the capable performances by Balfe and Dornan, whose dynamic drives much of the film. They’re central characters even while remaining in the periphery of the story, but they put a lot of heart into their roles as Buddy’s conflicted parents. Jude Hill as Buddy is a ball of energy, old enough to understand certain things about Belfast’s situation and young enough not to know the enormity of it. Hill has a wonderful presence, offering pensive glances as he eavesdrops on his parents’ conversations, having the right amount of unabashed honesty regarding his feelings. It’s through his perspective that the story of Belfast unfolds and Hill’s performance provides the right amount of levity amid the unfolding drama. Dench and Hinds have a strong presence as the grandparents who still adore each other after so many years together.

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The film’s personal nature gives it more meaning, and Branagh dips into the well of his own past to draw out the all-encompassing emotions permeating the story. The balance of humor and drama help Belfast’s pacing, even when certain aspects of the narrative become somewhat tedious nearer to the end of the film. It’s as though Branagh himself doesn’t want to leave Belfast behind, which can slow down the film just as it reaches its end. However, Branagh carefully crafts a story that is overall moving and grounded, beautiful and heartbreaking. There’s a lot of passion and love laced into the film and it clearly shows.

Link Source : https://screenrant.com/belfast-2021-movie-reviews/

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