Blitz

Just because Steve McQueen made a WWII movie doesn’t mean it’s this contrived Oscar “Bait” movie, as some other reviewers have labeled it. For starters, McQueen has always delivered emotionally charged films, and he has always been selective in what projects that he develops. And for another thing, the true stories McQueen tells are genuine stories with uncompromising visions and potent narratives. It’s a great story that suits his sensibilities—a narrative I wouldn’t imagine another filmmaker embarking on.

Currently an Academy Award contender, which I had the opportunity of screening at the New York Film Festival in October, opens on Friday in limited theaters, and it will drop on Apple TV+ on November 22nd. The film delivers very powerful results with just how involving the war drama unfolds.

Like a Dickens novel and a Spielberg film in many ways, McQueen merges the technical bravura with deep humanism that is needed during the aftermath of a very polarizing election. This is a filmmaker who has delivered very visceral moments in cinema before, one that explored the 1981 hunger strikes in England, in which Michael Fassbender lost over 80 pounds of body fat down to his skin and bones in Hunger (2008). McQueen returned with Fassbender in 2011 with Shame about a tormented white-collar worker who turns to sex addiction to sustain his alienation. Of course, his 2013 masterpiece 12 Years a Slave is one of the most reputable films to win the Best Picture Oscar, and his Small Axe series on Amazon reached great acclaim, especially the Lovers Rock portion that was released in 2020.

Like his 2018 film Widows, Blitz is perhaps McQueen at his most accessible, but nothing in this moving saga feels manipulating or dull like other Oscar prestige film. For 120 minutes, McQueen’s war epic is a sweeping one. The story swifts on with its accelerated pacing and human drama. It might feel like its McQueen at his most straightforward, but it comes from a masterful filmmaker who you can see his passion shine through with each film. And in all honesty, the filmmaking in this is every bit as extraordinary as 12 Years a Slave and Hunger–isolated characters aiming to service in their grating environments.

Courtesy Apple TV + 

The film is about a young boy named George (Elliott Heffernan), who is intransigent to his mother’s decision to evacuate him off in the English countryside to escape the danger of the German air attacks. Once George jumps off the evacuated train, he ends up lost and ending up back in London. Meanwhile, George’s distressed mother, Rita (Saoirse Ronan), searches for him once she finds out that he didn’t make it to his destination. While the film isn’t based on a novel or on any real actors, the original screenplay stays very true to historical events. For instance, the name of the evacuation that Rita sends George off to in a train is called Operation Pied Piper. There are also other moments and characters throughout the story that match real characters and real stories that add to the film’s vivid realism and harrowing story.

McQueen’s staging and directing style once again immerses the viewer to feel the agony of war through the perspective of a child through wartime. It also shows it through the perspective of civilians. This draws parallels to the current wars currently going on in Ukraine and Gaza, which has tragically led to a massive number of casualties. Like other great survivalist war films, such as The Pianist and Schindler’s List, that are told through the eyes of civilians and survivalists of war, McQueen dives deep into humanity and stages many sequences with harrowing effect. One of the greatest sequences includes George seeking refuge in underground stations and deep-level shelters during the air raid; without revealing any spoilers, the sequence is searing. Throughout George’s journey, he must fend for himself, and he is pressured by a group of thieves led by Albert (Stephen Graham) and his cohorts that break into abandoned homes and restaurants in the aftermath of the attacks to rob the possessions off of dead people. There are also moments of grace as well, especially the moments when George encounters Ife (Bemjamin Clementine), a Black British officer who patrols the streets and helps civilians into places of shelter before the air strikes. During a great moment, Ife calls on the power of unity of division and draws how the demagoguery is the same tactics the Nazi Party uses who is ushering in the attacks on Great Britain. The scenes involving Rita are rewarding as well. Ronan delivers an exceptional performance that’s displayed with affliction and valor.

Courtesy Apple TV+

Though Blitz takes place during Blitzkrieg and in London, this marks the first narrative feature filmed in his hometown of London (though his anthology television series Small Axe also takes place in London). It’s not going to necessarily reach the acclaim and satisfy modern film buffs, critics, and audiences the way his previous films Hunger, Shame, and 12 Years a Slave have, but Blitz has enough moments of greatness that should still appease its audience. As the film unfolds, you may ponder why we need another war film. And as you watch Blitz, it will draw reminders of our current state of just how much death and dysfunction of war are sadly still going due to reckless governments and failed foreign policies. Blitz is an empathetic reminder of the urgency of relevant storytelling and the significant impact the power of cinema holds in chronicling films about such fortitude.

BLITZ is now playing in limited theaters and will be streaming on APPLE TV+ on November 22nd