The British Film Festival is currently on and Sally and I met at the Kino Cinema this afternoon to see Kenneth Branagh's new film Belfast. Loosely based on his childhood, the black and white film is a coming of age story set in the late 1960s around the start of the Troubles in Northern Ireland.
Buddy (Jude Hill) lives with his brother and parents (Jamie Dornan and Caitriona Balfe) in a mixed working class neighborhood. Their peaceful existence is shattered when a mob of unionists comes and firebombs the houses of Catholic families on the street. While in the background a barricade goes up and people patrol the local streets, the focus of the story is Buddy and his family as they live through these times and try to determine if they should stay or move to England where there is work. It's more of a sentimental film that skims the surface of the political tensions of the time, but it was entertaining and Jude Hill's performance as Buddy was fantastic.
Belfast opens for a broader release in Australia in January 2022.
