Director: Steve McQueen
Cast: Saoirse Ronan, Elliott Heffernan, Harris Dickinson, Benjamin Clementine, Kathy Burke, Paul Weller, Stephen Graham
Rating: (TBC)
★★★
REVIEWED BY AMASIO JUTEL
Blitz (Apple TV+) is a WW2 story with progressive intersectional themes at its core, which misses a more personal directorial lens, largely propped up by two great performances from its leads.
George (Elliot Heffernan), a young biracial boy, has been evacuated from London during the German bombing campaigns by his single mother, Rita (Saoirse Ronan). But on his way to the countryside, George leaps off the train, and attempts to return to London to reunite with Rita.
Rita’s compelling arc is complemented by the endearing performance Ronan gives. She’s incredibly expressive as the reserved, anxious mother she plays.
George suffers a more fragmented narrative fate, moving through tragic vignettes of displacement and destruction, suffering at the hands of war and racism.
Blitz shares a lesser-explored story of war, about the solidarity of BIPOC in an already suffering world. Among the vignettes is Ife (Benjamin Clementine), a Nigerian warden and could-be father figure, who supports George and helps him learn to be proud of being Black.
In her factory, Rita and some of her colleagues stand up for workers’ rights, interrupting a radio broadcast to demand better protections for those not fighting in the war.
The simple arc of this story (not cinematically engaging on its own) mixed with the fragmented encounters of George (not narratively compelling on its own) fail to build out each other deeply.
