MANILA, PHILIPPINES — Nominated for seven Academy Awards, Belfast tells the real life story of British actor and filmmaker Kenneth Branagh. Read adobo magazine’s resident film reviewer Jason Inocencio’s take on the story of love, conflict, conviction, and family:
Ask any person remotely familiar with the work of Kenneth Branagh and a few things will likely come to mind. An excellent Shakespearean actor, Hercule Poirot in recent Agatha Christie film adaptations, Gilderoy Lockhart in Harry Potter, director of the first Thor movie, among other things. Most of us think of him as very, very British or (at the very least, English). Imagine my surprise, then, when I learned that the film Belfast that Branagh wrote and directed is actually autobiographical.
In 1969, 9-year-old Buddy (Jude Hill) and his Protestant family live in the city of Belfast. Protestant loyalists attack the Catholic homes on Buddy’s street, causing the residents to put up a barricade in hopes of stopping any further conflict. His ma (Caitriona Balfe) and older brother Will (Lewis McAskie) live in the same house with Buddy and his grandparents (Ciaran Hinds and Judi Dench).
This period marks the beginning of “The Troubles,” a period of terrorist acts by both Protestants and Catholics against each other in that area. Buddy’s pa (Jamie Dornan) has been working overseas in England but gets to go home to check on how everyone is doing. At school, Buddy has been excelling while competing with classmates like Catherine (Olive Tennant) and he begins to develop feelings for her.
Local rabblerouser Billy Clanton (Colin Morgan) is trying to solidify his powerbase by recruiting people to the revolutionary cause. This includes Buddy’s pa, but he refuses to join. This only makes Clanton more aggressive, chasing after Buddy in hopes of forcing Pa to reconsider.
With the family’s debts continuing to increase, Pa dreams of bringing everyone with him to Sydney or Vancouver, as far away from Belfast as possible. Ma does not want to leave her home, but she begins to realize that the conflict between the Protestants and Catholics isn’t going to get better. In fact, it’s only getting worse.
Belfast is, of course, the capital of Northern Ireland, and a city caught between warring religions and states. While many think that the very Catholic Ireland has always existed on its own, part of it is Northern Ireland (or Ulster) and is predominantly Protestant. Northern Ireland is still part of the United Kingdom.
The Troubles covered in the film covers one of the most violent periods in that small area that is Northern Ireland. For Branagh, having Buddy serve as his surrogate and the audience’s way into the scenario feels all too real. No child should live through such wanton disregard for human life, especially between neighbors who seem to have so many things in common save for religion.
By shooting most of Belfast in black and white, Branagh seems to create a dream-like quality for the story of Buddy and his family. He doesn’t give the family members names so we call them as Buddy would and are therefore fully immersed in their story.
We’ve seen great performances from Dench and Hinds countless times in the past, particularly in the case of Dench. Hinds has usually played villains and morally ambiguous figures so to see him here as an old and weak grandfather who is still in love with his wife and is still teaching his grandson lessons in life is refreshing yet heartbreaking at the same time. Both ended up nominated for Best Supporting Actor/Actress at both the Golden Globes and the Academy Awards.
Dornan and Balfe are the nominal “leads” in the motion picture and their struggles to keep their family afloat amid all the chaos around them. They are not glamorized for the film despite their innate good looks, and when they dance with one another near the movie’s end, it seems like Branagh is showing his parents some real love and paying tribute to their relationship.
The Irish accent isn’t an easy one to listen to so it takes some time before one gets used to hearing everyone talk in Belfast. It’s also one of the authentic things that Branagh brings to the project, borne out of a love for his childhood home and reminiscing about people and friends he lost during The Troubles.
Hill is a revelation and it’s never easy to get such a great performance from someone so young. To have him basically play out what the director lived through is a tremendous amount of pressure, but Hill passes with flying colors.
This deeply personal story was so good that Branagh has been earning honors for both writing and directing Belfast. He already won Best Screenplay at the Golden Globes and is nominated for Best Original Screenplay at the Oscars. He was nominated for Best Director by both award-giving bodies while the film was nominated for Best Picture in both as well.
Though most of us probably never associated Branagh with anything Irish, watching Belfast will likely never allow us to forget his Irish roots. It’s a story of love, conflict, conviction, and family that will not be easy to overlook.
