Review: Blitz

Image courtesy of Apple Films.

 

Steve McQueen's "Blitz" is a visually stunning boy's adventure set against the backdrop of the London Blitz during World War II that is much in the same vein as Steven Spielberg's "Empire of the Sun" or John Boorman's "Hope and Glory," only much more intense.

During the Blitz - which was taken from the German word Blitzkrieg and translates to "lightning war" - many youths in London and other populous British cities were sent to the countryside to remain safe while their parents remained behind. In McQueen's film, George (Elliot Heffernan) is the young man being sent away as his mother, factory worker Rita (Saoirse Ronan) stays in the city with her father (portrayed by musician Paul Weller).

But what makes "Blitz" unique among the coming-of-age World War II stories is that it is the rare one to tell the story of a child of color witnessing these momentous events. George's father was a Black man from Grenada and - during a harrowing flashback - we learn how he was separated from Rita during an evening out at a nightclub.

George experiences casual racism (being chased away while looking in store windows) and more of the overt kind (young British children mock him about his race) during his daily routines. And once the bombing of London begins, the film examines how the differences among various characters are treated during a moment of great peril.

George is packed away on a train with other children to leave London, but he decides to hop off and head back home after feeling guilty about an unpleasant parting with his mother at the station. During his journey home, he comes across a kind-hearted Nigerian soldier named Ife (Benjamin Clementine) who takes him out on his rounds to ensure that people are adhering to London's lights-out policy at night.

While de-camping at a bomb shelter, Ife has to step in after a white British couple has demanded that a Muslim family sharing the space must hang a sheet so that the white couple does not have to see them. Earlier in the film, George told Ife that he didn't consider himself Black, but it is at this moment - both the mistreatment of the Muslim couple and Ife's righteous stance against the bigots in the shelter - that George reconsiders.

At turns, the film almost becomes Dickensian after George unfortunately runs across a group of crooks led by a creepy Stephen Graham and Kathy Burke who force George - a la "Oliver Twist" - to begin stealing from homes hit by bombs. A sequence at a nightclub where the bodies of the recently killed remain seated in their chairs is particularly unsettling as the crooks pilfer their wares, all the while cracking jokes about the deceased.

While the film's script is occasionally a bit on the nose - a speech about socialism's similarities to Christianity and another regarding how people should respect one another - its often incredible visuals more than make up for it. 

The picture opens with an evocative sequence in which firefighters respond to a burning building that was hit by a Nazi bomb. A firehose out of control knocks a firefighter unconscious, while the others attempt to get it under control. Later, George and others sleeping in a subway tunnel during the Blitz must try to escape as water floods in during the film's most harrowing sequence. In another stunner, George flees a dock and crosses a bridge as German bombs explode all around.

Some have labeled "Blitz" as a minor McQueen film. While it certainly isn't on the level of the remarkable "12 Years a Slave" or the engrossing five-part "Small Axe" series, it is still a solid piece of entertainment. It may not tell us much new about the London Blitz - although its focus on a boy of color makes it unique among stories set during this period - but it's a very well shot and directed period drama with stunning set pieces and solid performances (Heffernan is a real find and Ronan is great as always). It might not be one of McQueen's greatest films, but it's well worth a watch.