Steve McQueen’s Blitz: An adventure on the streets of WW2 London.

Steve McQueen’s new movie BLITZ has arrived on Apple TV. This WW2 adventure centres on the east end of London that was subjected to heavy bombing by the Nazis, when Britain stood alone against Hitlers Luftwaffe. The film looks good and has heartfelt moments, but it lacked “oomph”. The storyline was channelling Oliver Twist and for me that is no bad thing. I just felt something was missing that would elevate it to classic status. 

Its 1940, a single mum Rita (Saoirse Roan) who has a biracial boy called George (Elliot Heffernan) is living in East London. Rita reluctantly sends George onto a train to the countryside to live with strangers and escape the bombs. George has other ideas though, and an hour into the journey he jumps off the train and follows the track back to London. All Elliott wants to do is get back home and the thrust of the story is his journey attempting to reunite with his mum.

George’s adventure through the streets of London, where he meets a Dickensian cast of characters, is juxtaposed with the lonely Rita’s emancipation in the workplace and her desire to make a difference in society.

Will they find each other in the ruins of the capital?

The story moved at a good pace, and you really cared about Rita and George, but there were too many characters and subplots that didn’t go anywhere which didn’t tie the film together properly. For example, a firefighter called Jack (Harris Dickinson) is shyly sweet on the single Rita and helps her to find George when she discovers that her son did not reach his destination. Their slow bonding just ends and suddenly Jack doesn’t appear anymore which left me wanting more.  

The cinematography was beautiful and made London look ravaged but grand at the same time and the action had some exceptional moments. One gripe though was, I know it is supposed to be dark as it is the Blitz, but in some scenes, it was a tad too dark, so you couldn’t really see the characters that much. But it did showcase the beauty of the trains, buses and underground stations which looked authentic. It is credit to cinematographer Yorik le Saux.

The stunt and action scenes were very effective, and I commend the stunt team in this shoot, especially stunt coordinator Chelsea Mather. The water sequence in a flooded underground station and the opening scene, where firemen’s loose hosepipes were thrashing around uncontrollably amongst the burning houses and people stood out. Impressive stuff.  

I liked how director Steve McQueen explored different social perspectives that you don’t often see in war movies, such as themes of racism and women’s rights. These important historical and contemporary facts were woven in the fabric of the narrative seamlessly, but did not overpower the film, which at its heart was a lost boy looking for his mum. 

Elliot Heffernan as George was the centre of the movie and surprisingly had few lines. What he did have was amazing expression in his eyes which conveyed his and the people he meets emotions. It was the ability to tell the story through his eyes that made this feature as good as it is. It reminded me a bit like Millie Bobby Brown and how she became a star by using her expressive face in the first season of Stranger Things.

Saoirse Ronan is an unbelievable actress, and I am a huge fan. Here though I thought she wasn’t at her usual exemplary best and her performance strayed into tough east end girl caricature. I am used to seeing her dominate any movie she is in, it’s not to say she did badly, I was just slightly underwhelmed.

The movie has been compared to The Railway Children and Oliver Twist and there are echoes of those classics in BLITZ. It feels like a Sunday afternoon wrapped up in a blanket kind of movie, which as I have said is no bad thing. I was just expecting a little bit more. 

Be First to Comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *