My review/ comments on Kenneth Branagh's 2021 interesting film "BELFAST".

I think directors talk a lot about themselves in their films. Through your style or a favorite theme or even in the narrative creating a distinct style like Alfred Hitchcock, Ernst Lubitsh or Woody Allen just to name a few. His films are his trademarks. Others like to film parts of their life in order to tell a story that is more personal and therefore familiar to them.

In this case, Francois Truffaut, Federico Fellini or Louis Malle come in, just to name a few directors who made films inspired by their own experts as children or teenagers.

Kenneth Branagh gives his film the name of the city where he was born and revisits it through memories as a child, which later inspired the future actor and director.

It is important to note that Branagh is multi-talented and that in my humble opinion he gave us Shakespeare's best adaptation for film in his first Henry V film of 1989 (I dare say better than Laurence Olivier from 1944), and that he earned his first deserved Academy Award nomination for Best Director.

Belfast starts with scenes of the city in the present and in color and then turns to black and white as the story begins. In my reading this has a double meaning: it shows us a nostalgic look at the past while gray in the sense of the events that will set the semi-bitter tone of the story when we go back in time to the turbulent year 1969 to the beginning of the 70s, where Catholics and protesters fought in the streets of Belfast, capital of Northern Ireland, generating such a complex and absurd war in which, as in all wars, there were only losers and that not even time could overcome the scars left on survivors who lost many loved ones. And it resulted, in part, in the separation of families, and this is the case in this movie.

In the first scenes with children in the streets and residents fraternizing, we notice a tone of happiness that will eventually give way in a few minutes to tank attacks, shouting, cursing and slogans and a lot of blood.

This event will be the one that will shape this film and hold the fate of Buddy's family (the excellent new actor Jude Hill, just 11 years old, but who acts like a pro), and it is this character that the actor and director identifies with. And it will be from his point of view that events will unfold. We will meet his mother (Caitriona Balfe), his father (Jamie Dornan), his older brother Billy (Colin Morgan) and finally his paternal grandparents granny (Dame Judi Dench, always excellent but here in modest participation) and perhaps for me the best character from this movie, Pop (Cirian Hinds, just perfect to do the actor justice).

With a tone of nostalgia always mingling with the reality of the facts, we understand that this working middle class family has problems with arrears and tax bills and lots of collections, Buddy's father works in London and spends 2 weeks without seeing the family coming back usually spend two weekends a month in their company. Who takes care of Buddy and his mother with the help of his older brother and paternal grandparents?

Branagh always prefers humor over drama, which is a quality in this film, because of course the facts have the vision of the child who, like us in the audience, do not understand the insanities of a religious war. But this is also where the humor of the story is found. By not understanding exactly what happens in the adult world, Buddy's conjectures are the movie's charm. The little adventures he gets into are precious as well as the conversations he has with his grandfather, and his advice, is priceless!

The film is not a biography of the director, but a reflection on his and Branagh's experiences with a tremendously talented cast manages to get through and tell that story very well.

What in my opinion was missing in Belfast is a little more soul. We adore and like Buddy's family, but I think Branagh forces us to love them a little too much and even in the sentimental moments of the movie, I can't get 100% emotional. Another touch that I found deeply disorienting in this film is the excessive use (very few) of colors. Generally the colors should in this case show the fascination for cinema (some clips from some films are presented in Technicolor), for me they proved to simply burn out the main focus of the narrative. And of course Branagh makes reference to himself in a little scene Buddy is reading a comic book, guess who the superhero on the cover is?

Buddy's mom just didn't show a book by Agatha Christie. But there are indirect references to Shakespeare, and this film is in very good standing for many awards in the near future. I liked the movie, but I didn't love it. The director has masterful control of his film as he always has, but the story leaves something to be desired. I expected much more than what I saw.