How delighted The Successity Blog was to see Sir Kenneth Branagh scoop the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay at the 2022 Academy Awards yesterday. Nominated so many times, hitherto always the bridesmaid and never the bride, it is a well-deserved accolade and tribute to Branagh’s undoubted talents.
I settled in to watch BELFAST with considerable trepidation. As a Belfast-man myself I was petrified that I might watch it as a busman’s holiday like a policeman watches a crime-cop drama – picking up all the flaws and mistakes and not watching the movie appreciating it for the dramatic work that it is.
I needn’t have worried. BELFAST is totally absorbing, and all the more poignant for the fact that the main conflict and violence is Protestant against Protestant rather than succumbing to the more predictable Protestant versus Catholic sectarianism.
There are those who believe that the film should have been more faithful to veracity and verisimilitude, as if it should have been a documentary. And arguably the gritty, grainy black and white cinematography promises that analysis. But at the end of the day those that argue BELFAST should have been more of a documentary are missing the point. It is, and is intended to be, a drama reminiscing semi-autobiographically on Branagh’s perceptions of his Belfast childhood. In effect, his subjective vignettes of remembrance. As such, the better view is that the film should be allowed considerable flexibility and leeway in that regard.
The film is endowed with numerous strong performances. From Judi Dench, convincingly playing a working-class Northern Irish Grandmother, to Ciaran Hinds playing her affable, approachable husband. To my mind, however, the standout performances belong to Jamie Dornan, who plays a father in a softer role than perhaps his previous performances would have predicted. To Catriona Balfe playing Dornan’s wife with considerable gravitas and poignancy. And, of course, to Jude Hill, playing the young nine-year-old Branagh-boy whose happy home life is disrupted by the sweep of sectarianism that engulfs his street.
Hill’s performance is likely in large measure a profound tribute to Branagh himself who, as an accomplished director, was able to coax such a moving and meaningful performance from the young lad.
There was one jarring moment in the film for me, which is a shame, and I believe it to have been a misjudgement on Branagh’s part. During a moment of high dramatic conflict, the non-diegetic musical score plays “Do not forsake me oh my darling”, the theme song from HIGH NOON starring Jimmy Stewart. In that moment, when I should have been focussing on the BELFAST narrative, my mind was instead taken to the Westerns world of cowboys and dust-balls rolling down empty streets and the last-minute stand-off intrigues of HIGH NOON. Sadly, by the time I had re-engaged with the intended narrative, the moment had passed, which is a pity.
BELFAST is a very fine film and gets five stars from me. Branagh’s original screenplay well-deserves its statuette; but to my mind it is the directing, and particularly Branagh's directing of Hill as a convincing child actor, which steals the show. Some people think that Branagh’s directing style is too unsubtle and “go for broke.” There may be moments when that’s true in BELFAST (for instance the HIGH NOON moment already referred to, and the gratuitous CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG scene), but they are eclipsed by the general efficient and effective execution of the narrative. It is a pity then that Branagh’s nomination as Best Director failed at the final furlong.
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