Post-60s British director Kenneth Branagh has always been very popular, whether it is in the "Creed", "Murder on the Orient Express", "Dunkirk", or adapted Shakespeare and Christie's classic works of "Hamlet", "Henry V", "Murder on the Orient Express", all have a good reputation. Therefore, I am very concerned about him, and whenever a new work comes out, I always have to look for it.
"Belfast" is Kenneth Branagh's latest work, and has just received seven nominations for Best Picture, Best Director and Best Screenplay in the Drama Series category of this year's Golden Globe Awards. At this moment when new films are jumping off the file and the film world is withering, it is undoubtedly gratifying to find a movie worth watching.
The first thing that attracted me was the title "Belfast". The name of the city reminds me of the IRA and of the battles for independence and freedom that once took place here. So, I take it for granted, it's an intense movie.
After watching it, I was disappointed, it turned out that this is a warm movie about hometown. Although there are also bloody fights and street barricades, the core is the growth of a child in a chaotic era. Therefore, although the foreground and the back scene always appear barbed wire, barricades, and smoke, happy children and adults are always the main body of the movie.
Just as New Zealand director Taiga Viditti's The Whimsical World of Jojo, released last year, placed ignorant children in the brutal context of World War II, in Belfast we are surprised to see that next to the barricades, under the barbed wire, the adults are still dancing happily, and the children are still playing like crazy. This stylized means of expression dilutes the brutality of the riots sparked by religious conflicts.
Anyone who is slightly familiar with European history will remember the protestant-Catholic wars of religion. Especially in England, from the Middle Ages to the nineteenth century, the conflict between Protestantism and Catholicism was pervasive. Northern Ireland, the traditional sphere of influence of the Catholic Church, and the Protestant British Crown have always been at a point of incompatibility, and have sparked a wave of independence from religious conflicts. Belfast, the capital of Northern Ireland, is always at the center of the storm. On 30 January 1972, the Civil Rights Society of Northern Ireland held a rally in the city of Londonderry and was shot dead by British troops on the spot, known as the "Bloody Sunday Incident". Six months later, the IRA created an explosion in Belfast that killed nine people, known as Blood Friday. The Oscar-winning Best Picture "In the Name of the Father" is based on the true story of an unjust case in the Belfast bombing.
In the movie "Belfast", these bloody pasts have turned into a faint wisp of smoke, becoming the background board for the fragmented life story of an old man, a couple and two children. Kenneth Branagh uses the extremely beautiful scenery at the opening credits to tell the audience that these painful memories have long since become distant past.
The second thing that appealed to me was the director's name. Kenneth Branagh was a Shakespearean actor by birth, and I was an avid fan of Shakespeare. So, I'm very concerned about Kenneth Branagh. 32 years ago, Kenneth Branagh debuted and directed and starred in "Henry V", based on Shakespeare's historical drama of the same name, and won two nominations for best director and best actor at the Academy Awards that year. Since then, he has directed and acted on the screen for "Hamlet", "Nothing Happened", "Everyone Is Happy" and "All True", which is based on Shakespeare's real experience in his later years.
In recent years, he has also been keen to adapt and remake Agatha Christie's detective novels. After directing and starring in "Murder on the Orient Express" and achieving box office success, he immediately made "Massacre on the Nile". It was supposed to be released in October last year, but because the epidemic was rescheduled to be released in February next year, it is worth looking forward to.
As an actor, Kenneth Branagh is obviously very knowledgeable about acting, which is also embodied in this "Belfast". The performance of two old and two young couples in the film is the biggest highlight. Mrs. Judy Dench, who has just quit the 007 series of movies, and Seren Sid, the steppenwolf in "Justice League", are impressed by the familiar and exquisite performance of an elderly couple who are very close to each other. The child star Jude Hill, who plays the protagonist of the film, Barty, interprets the hazy love of a little boy to the girl very naturally and vividly, adding a warm tone to the film, which together with the film's black and white painting style, lyrical music and deliberately chosen shooting angles form the lyrical and sentimental tone of the film.
Belfast begins with a beautiful view of the city, accompanied by a song: "When I was in my dreams, something very special was very profound. I shouted out loud that I had a whole new story. The caption at the end reads: "To those who remain, to those who have left, and to all those who have lost." "This shows the theme of the film and the director's intentions very clearly. Kenneth Branagh was born in Belfast, and the film is known as his love poem dedicated to his hometown, in which the little boy Barty, apparently incarnates himself. This film is very similar to "Roma", which won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film and Best Director 3 years ago, it is all black and white, and it is all about the memory of the hometown. Many critics have compared the two films, arguing that Belfast is clearly inferior to Roma. I agree with that view. Whether from the emotions of a family or from the reflection of the background of the times, "Belfast" is more than one notch worse than "Roma".
When people reach old age, they can't help but recall, which is very normal. But if you want to show this memory to the public, you have to ask your memory to have public meaning, not just private emotion. Kenneth Branagh doesn't seem to understand this.
As a film, Belfast is beautiful. It's just that this beauty seems to be empty, and there is a big distance from the history of the city and the emotions of the public.