British filmmaker Steve McQueen’s “Blitz” recently made its North American premiere at Film at Lincoln Center as the closing night selection of the 62nd New York Film Festival. McQueen, known for his harrowingly brutal and vivid films like “Hunger” and “12 Years a Slave,” once again delivers a historically rich and visually intense piece that transports viewers to a war-ridden London through the eyes of a working-class single mother and her 9-year-old son — albeit with a bombastic presentation that oftentimes undermines the film’s powerful humanism.
Set during World War II, McQueen’s film follows Rita (Saoirse Ronan) and her son George (Elliott Heffernan) as they each navigate a city under German siege during a bombing campaign that would come to be known as The Blitz. Toward the start of the film, the two are separated after Rita was forced to evacuate George to the countryside alongside hundreds of other children. He quickly escapes in defiance of this separation, launching the narrative’s emotionally charged dual perspective of war. In contrast to other war films like “Dunkirk” or “All Quiet on the Western Front” which document the horrors of global conflict through epic battle scenes and riveting action, “Blitz” takes an exceptionally human approach in capturing 1940s London through mother and son. It examines the prevalent role of women during wartime in the United Kingdom and challenges childhood innocence through unrelentingly photographed sequences and genuinely shaking sound design.
The film begins with a bombing of a London neighborhood, with firefighters struggling to put out firestorms in residential areas, portrayed with impressive physicality and attention to detail. Yorick Le Saux’s unyielding camerawork combined with the film’s authentic set design and Hans Zimmer’s roaring musical score crafts a haunting atmosphere that very well resembles that of a horror film. There are similar sequences that transpire throughout the film, notably through George’s perspective as he runs through neighborhoods and bridges that are actively being bombed. The sound design elevates this sense of tension and urgency, gluing the viewers to their seats and searing McQueen’s striking documentation of war in their minds.
While technically astounding, these moments of shock too remind us of one of the picture’s more apparent themes of coming of age. George is a child who, by virtue of war and destruction, is deprived of his childhood. The only moments of the film where he emanates any sense of innocence are either in flashback sequences of him with Rita and his grandfather Gerald (Paul Weller) or in scenes where he interacts with other children going through similar struggles. There is one moment, however, in which George stumbles upon a Nigerian warden Ife (Benjamin Clémentine) who offers an element of comfort in a time of great fear and uncertainty on his journey back home. George is biracial, which in turn exacerbates his ostracization when interacting with children his own age, but Ife’s kindness and empathy make George proud of his identity and play a crucial role in his development over the course of the film.
Rita, on the other hand, works with other women at a munitions factory as her son goes on his tumultuous adventure. Ronan’s performance shines in its subtlety, showcasing a vast emotional range while grounding her character in an element of realism and humanity. She very quickly abandons her sole post at the munitions factory to volunteer at a shelter organized by socialist community members and aid in her search for George once she hears he’s gone missing. The relationship between Rita and George is ironically the heart and soul of the film despite the very little screen time the two characters share with one another — their individual stories are powerfully connected through McQueen’s parallel storytelling.
The film unfortunately falters in its brief moments of melodrama, whether that be through the exaggerated performances of side characters or an overbearingly sympathetic musical score by Zimmer, which undercuts the intensely human story McQueen is trying to tell. Like most other period pieces with an emotionally charged narrative, there are some scenes in “Blitz” that would’ve felt far more effective and powerful without any music whatsoever. It’s the line between touching humanism and insincere manipulation that the film inevitably grapples with as it makes its way to the end credits, making McQueen’s attempt at a soul-crushing finale fall flat where other moments stand out. However, in face of the film’s many successes and technical merits, its excessive melodrama is a minor issue.
“Blitz” is a beautiful yet horrific portrayal of familial separation in wartime London, drawing many parallels to contemporary conflicts and humanitarian crises, whether that be Israel’s ongoing siege in Gaza or war-ridden devastation in Sudan. McQueen’s latest film is an ever-so-relevant work of cinema that takes advantage of the medium to tell a visually gripping tale of chaos and humanity.
Contact Yezen Saadah at [email protected].
