Belfast

 3.5/4

Starring: Jude Hill, Catriona Balfe, Jamie Dornan, Lewis McAskie, Judi Dench, Ciaran Hinds

Rated PG-13 for Some Violence and Strong Language

"Belfast" is not a perfect movie.  Far from it, in fact.  There's no plot to speak of, and the film has an alarming, and at times annoying, habit of introducing subplots and not exploring them satisfactorily.  If they are finished at all.  So by normal standards the movie is uneven and problematic.  Yet "Belfast" doesn't earn a place on my year's Top 10 list because of its story or characters or performances or whatnot.  It earns its distinction of being one of the year's best because of the cumulative power of all of these elements combined.  "Belfast" takes patience to appreciate.  You have to allow it to draw you in and accept it on its own terms.

Storywise, the film is thin.  It's less a story and more a collage of experiences involving a working class family in Ireland at the start of The Troubles.  The film's protagonist is Buddy (Hill), the youngest son.  He lives in Belfast with his mother (Balfe) and brother Will (McAskie).  His father (Dornan) is a laborer who works in Liverpool and returns home when he can.  Living nearby are Buddy's grandparents, the ailing and decidedly un-PC Pop (Hinds) and Granny (Dench).  Buddy's life growing up in such a close-knit neighborhood is idyllic, or seems so.  But tensions between the Catholics and Protestants (something that Buddy doesn't really understand) are leading to an outpouring of violence, and the only way to escape it is to leave the country.

What's special about this movie is that it successfully creates a sense of loss.  Change is a permanent thing, and "going back to the way things were" is a fantasy.  However pleasant growing up was for Buddy, that world is gone.  There's a new reality of violence and despair, and it isn't going away.  Actually, Buddy's life is less perfect than he believes it to be, as we the audience are privy to the financial stresses his parents are under.

The performances are first rate.  Newcomer Jude Hill shines as Buddy, appearing completely natural on camera.  He never reaches for effect or goes over the top with cuteness.  It's a difficult thing to play a normal person, but the young actor pulls it off.  Catriona Balfe is also very good, able to slide all over the scale between loving mother, fierce protector and worried wife without missing a beat.  Her speech about why she doesn't want leave Belfast may score her an Oscar nomination just for that.  The true scene-stealer is Jamie Dornan, who uses his considerable screen presence and especially his eyes to play a loving father.  It will be a shock if he is not nominated for an Oscar.  As for the veterans Judi Dench and Ciaran Hinds?  Of course they're wonderful.

I suspect that this story is near and dear to Kenneth Branagh's heart.  It's based on something he experienced growing up, and the "smallness" of the film leads to a richer experience.  We see so much spectacle these days that it's nice to see a movie about, you know, people.  With a normal family anchoring the material, he's able to convey real feelings.  The movie isn't political (it's told largely from Buddy's perspective, who is so naive that he can barely understand the difference between Protestants and Catholics) but the feelings of loss are there all the same.

Coming from a stage background, Branagh is known for his theatrical visual style.  His version of "Hamlet" is worth seeing simply for its bold, sumptuous vision (generously helped by the 70mm format).  Here, he films in mostly black and white instead, and considering the material, it's impossible to argue with his choice.  Black and white has a timeless quality and it makes evoking nostalgia and longing all the more easy.  Still, there are times when his vision threatens to overwhelm the story.  Having select images in color is cool, but I'm not sure it works here.

The flaw with the film is that Branagh tries to do too much.  He wants to present the film from Buddy's perspective but also flesh out the other characters.  Branagh doesn't get the balance quite right, and there are scenes that feel half finished or extraneous.  It needed a better editor.

Imperfect it may be, there is no denying the dramatic power "Belfast" generates.

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