blitz…

I went along to the Watershed again yesterday to see Steve McQueen’s film about the blitz bombing on London in 1940, featuring the always excellent Saoirse Ronan (Rita - ridiculously beautifully-dressed throughout despite all the bombing and destruction!) as the single mother living with her father (rather wonderfully played by Paul Weller!). Her bi-racial son (played by Elliott Heffernan) is evacuated, only to run away in a perilous bid to find her (Rita’s Grenadian partner was harassed by racists and deported).

The film deals with some somewhat unexplored issues: the casually racist attitude to people of colour by British wartime authorities; and ditto their attitudes towards the working class in London’s East End. Of course, there are also the predictable (but impressive) scenes of destruction and suffering, blackouts and shelters, women factory workers and ARP wardens… and, of course, plenty of ‘Blitz spirit’.
Lots of impressive stuff but, for me, I have to say that I found the film a little disappointing (especially given it was written, produced and directed by McQueen). I’d even say it frequently felt somewhat contrived and artificial. A film to watch on the telly on a drab Sunday afternoon maybe but, from my perspective, nothing more. Sorry.