Belfast – a monochrome testament to a childhood in the Troubles

Kenneth Branagh’s semi-autobiographical film about his childhood in Belfast during the late 1960s already has seven Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, six BAFTAs and six Golden Globes. Yet, its story is far from the glamour of awards.

The film opens to the colourful industrial landscape of modern Belfast and the soulful voice of Van Morrison – whose melodic tracks are interwoven throughout the film’s narrative. The colour then gives way to black and white and we are transported to both a city in crisis and a family in crisis.

It’s the summer of ’69, and it’s a hot, innocent and joyful scene. We follow Buddy – the nine-year-old played by breakout star Jude Hill – with a wooden sword and bin lid for a shield running through crowded streets of terraced houses as children play and neighbours chat.

This happy scene is aggressively punctuated by a mob of Protestant loyalists with petrol bombs and weapons marching down the street and burning Catholic houses. Despite being protestant family, Buddy, his mother and brother take cover under the kitchen table, terrified.

This is largely how the film continues – feelgood moments truncated by fear and sporadic conflict.

It flits through scenes of banal family life, and all the while violence simmers and escalates in the background as Protestant unionists and Catholic nationalists fight over Northern Ireland. The battleground often explodes onto the family’s street, whilst ‘Ma’ (Caitríona Balfe) and ‘Pa’ (Jamie Dornan) also fight over debt, rent payments and being torn apart by Pa’s carpentry work in London.

Much of the warmth, wit and kindness of the film largely comes from ‘Granny’ and ‘Pop’, played by the entirely convincing Judi Dench and Ciarán Hinds, whom Buddy adores.

These rich, subtle characters each with their own intensities are magnificently exposed in black and white. It is largely reminiscent of Alfonso Cuarón’s Roma (2018) – also an exploration into the directors own childhood. Although their stories are worlds apart, the mutual use of monochrome offers the same level of magnified focus on the characters, allowing the colour to instead come from their emotion.

The film doesn’t truly confront the issues of the Troubles – but perhaps this does not seem to be Branagh’s intention. After all, it is Buddy’s world that we see, and the conflict is absorbed through his childish, innocent eyes. He doesn’t care about politics nor does he fully understand the religious divisions. Yet what he does care about is his family who are unwillingly trapped in the middle of the conflict.

And so, the central question of the film asks how much can a family bear before it is time to leave?

“We’ve known this street, all our lives, and every man, woman, and child that lives in every bloody house, whether we like it or not,” Ma says.

The film is generous with humour and yet deeply tinged with sadness and nostalgia, particularly for an older Belfast. A city before it descended into three decades of sectarian violence and communities were torn apart. The film was partially dedicated to “to all those who left”.

A labour of love, Branagh’s film is as visually stunning as it is emotionally earnest. It stays with you long after the credits show.

Belfast, tipped to be the Oscar favourite, is showing in cinemas across the UK.