Steve McQueen’s New War Drama ‘Blitz’ is Hit and Miss

British director Steve McQueen’s latest film, Blitz, is a war-time drama filled with curated moments designed to pull on the heart strings. His intentions are good but the execution is just a little too heavy-handed for any real emotional connection to occur. 

The story is set in London during the early part of World War II. The Germans are carrying out an intense aerial bombing campaign over the city, razing many of the buildings and plunging neighbourhoods into darkness and chaos. 

Rita (Saoirse Ronan), is a single mother living in Stepney Green with her 9-year-old son, George (Elliott Heffernan). George’s father is Grenadian. He was deported — after a brief scuffle with some racist white thugs — before George was born, but George has his colouring and as such, attracts the same racist attention. 

Rita lives with her father (played impressively by hitherto musician/singer Paul Weller in his debut acting role) and works in a munitions factory. As the aerial attacks increase and bombs hit closer to home, Rita makes the difficult decision to send George away to a facility out of the city where many other young children are being sent. 

George is deeply resentful, lashing out at his mother as he boards the train and almost immediately planning his escape. The first chance he gets, he jumps from the train and begins an adventure laden quest to find his way home. 

There isn’t a lot that is terribly original about this script and many of the characters are only slight variants of stereotypes. Still, the story as a whole has just enough tension, gravity, humour, and sweetness to appeal to a receptive audience. But it could have been more. 

Basically, the plot feels like a series of anecdotal scenes sewn loosely together. The characters, even the main characters, don’t develop enough depth for us to feel true empathy, they all feel allegorical. 

McQueen isn’t one for nuance. There’s not much to discuss afterwards, nothing to ponder over or debate about; it’s all laid out unambiguously. 

What is impressive are the sets and effects. The scenes of grey, smouldering, hollowed-out ruins are confronting, especially in context of current day events. 

Blitz does faithfully capture the aesthetic of the time, as well as some of the social and political issues that exacerbated an already horrendous situation. 

Blitz is currently screening at Palace cinemas as part of the British Film Festival. More information can be found here.