“All we need is love,” says director Steve McQueen at the press conference for his film ‘Blitz’, whose DNA, like the Briton himself, is anchored in the history of this country. An epic that illuminates an event through the eyes of a mixed racial 9-year-old boy who is separated from his mother and has to find his way back home alone. World War II dramas are always somewhat repetitive due to their era, but McQueen manages to find an event and a point of view that creates new scenarios.
The director sees it as his job, as an artist, to illuminate the truth and show dynamics; because even in the most difficult of times, the alliance of hope is what carries you through times like these. Steve McQueen is a master of his class and you can feel in every shot how thoughtful and deeply researched his work was and it pays off – not only his actors see it that way, but also some Londoners in my screening who themselves have ancestors who lived through this event and are amazed at the details that have been gathered since the first idea for a movie in 2003.
Young actor and protagonist Elliot Heffernan shines in his first role and, with his charm and fearlessness, shows a perspective of war that has never been seen before. The movie stands on his shoulders and without his screen presence and gravitas, the movie would not work. A great burden, which Heffermann masters as if he had never done anything else.
But behind him, if only in spirit, is the embrace of his mother Rita, played by Saoirse Ronan, whose presence lights up every single scene in which she fears for her boy or reminisces about their time together, showing once again that she can create a sense of security with her natural streak. She channeled in the best sense that effortlessness that greats like the two Cates (Blanchett and Winslet) also bring with them and now the time is finally ripe for Ronan to finally be showered with awards and recognized.
Women in war dramas are often portrayed as weepy and weak characters who sit at home unaware of whether their husbands are still fighting for their country’s honor in the trenches or have already fallen, but “Blitz” turns the tables and shows that, above all, it takes strength to let a lover go – whether temporarily or forever. Women like Rita were the heroes who made an impact without ending up in history books, but ordinary people like her and her son were the ones who made a difference.
It’s complaining on an extremely high level that “Blitz” is neither McQueen’s nor Ronan’s best work, but it’s the movie from both artists that we need right now and it’s just good to sit back and watch a story unfold where you know exactly, no matter how dark the days of the past were or the future is, it did exactly what you expected it to do: A story about running away and finding your way home again. Of war, but also of love. And above all, for the big screen.
