Steve McQueen’s Blitz may surprise with its straight-forward sincerity
“We are in a situation of war”
We’re not really lacking for war-time stories in the UK, especially where the Second World War is concerned, but Steve McQueen does at least bring a point of difference with Blitz. At the heart of the story is 9-year-old George, a mixed-race Stepney lad with Paul Weller as his grandpa, as you do. Desperate not to be evacuated even though the bombs have started falling, he takes a daring leap from the train taking him away from London and so we follow his adventures as he makes his way back to his mum Rita.
The scene is thus set for a picaresque journey as George meets all sorts – other ragamuffins on their own, kindly Nigerian air raid wardens (Benjamin Clémentine), even full-on Dickensian villains running gangs of street boys (a vivid Kathy Burke and Stephen Graham). There’s interesting questions and conversations about race but a slight sense of a modern-day sensibility being imposed in somewhat aspirational speechifying rather than a true reflection of contemporary attitudes being given.
At the same time, we follow Rita’s experiences as a munitions worker, part-time singer, single mother and concerned citizen as she sees how the East London population are being treated by wartime authorities. As the mother of a biracial child, she knows all too well the pain but the film doesn’t really delve much into her life beyond arty flashbacks. What we do get is a graphic account of the underclass taking advantage of the chaos and destruction in a blistering scene. Again though, the format of Blitz means we soon move on rather than digging deeper into most any of the people we meet.
Elliott Heffernan does a sterling job as George, you almost wish the film focused more on him as Saoirse Ronan can’t do much to break Rita out of her conventional characterisation, as well performed as it is. Elsewhere there’s a nice little bit of Alex Jennings as a BBC bod, Joshua McGuire as Rita’s hapless boss, Hayley Squires ace as ever as a mouthy colleague, plus all sorts of familiar theatrical names in dancing scenes. Altogether though, Blitz didn’t really do it for me, the constant moving on leaving too much unexplored (the impact of the final underground shelter moment, for instance, is completely ignored) to give the storytelling the emotional resonance it deserves.
