Blitz (2024)
Oscar-winning
British filmmaker Steve McQueen (12 Years A Slave) examines life in
London during the Blitz in WWII with his new film Blitz.
Saoirse Ronan (Lady
Bird, Little Women) plays Rita, a single mother raising her biracial
child George (Elliott Heffernan) with her father (Paul Weller) in working-class
Stepney Green in London's East End. As Nazi bombs regularly fall on London,
many parents are evacuating their children to the countryside to keep them
safe. Rita does this with George, but George rebels and flees from the train
when it is just outside London.
So George makes
the long journey back to his home on the East End. Along the way, he meets a
variety of Londoners, some helpful and kind (Benjamin Clementine's air raid
warden) and others decidedly not (a gang of petty crooks led by Stephen
Graham). And, of course, George still has to dodge bombs at night.
McQueen tries to
cram a lot about the Blitz experience into his film, and some of it works
better than others. But when the film does work, it is very, very good.
Post-bombing chaos is expertly captured, as is the claustrophobic terror felt
by Londoners as they wait out the bombings huddled in London Underground
stations. Young Mr. Heffernan is also terrific as the lead.
Ultimately,
though, the film's success depends on viewers caring about the mother-son
relationship at the core of the story, and it accomplishes that.
Blitz, which
premiered at the New Orleans Film Festival, will be in local theaters briefly
before premiering on Apple TV+ over the Thanksgiving holidays. While the
limited run is still better than Netflix's non-existent theatrical releases or
Warner Bros' disgraceful burying of Clint Eastwood's Juror #2, it's a
shame this did not get a larger theatrical release because it does benefit from
being seen on the big screen.
