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MARCH 2022:
‘Black and White’ is Alright….
I am personally enjoying the slow comeback of Black and White Movies into this generation of cinema.
There has been a steady increase of films released in the last decade, where the directors made a choice that the story would better be told in through this classic film style.
The most recent film to date to go classic is the Academy Award Nominated (7) 2021 Drama Belfast. Directed by, produced by and written by Kenneth Branagh the film Belfast tells Kenneth’s story of his childhood in the titled city of Belfast at the start of the Northern Ireland Conflict in the late 1960’s, often simply referred to as “The Troubles”.
Telling the story of a child growing up during the most violent of times in Northern Ireland’s history doesn’t need CGI graphics, or fancy production sets to make a great movie.
When a story as good as this one comes along, you can simplify it in Cinematography.
The beauty is in its simplicity.
I think Kenneth’s choice to make the film in ‘Black and White’ (B&W) is artistically relevant to the story being told. He is using this visual medium to share a memory, and it doesn’t need to be bogged down in flashy film sets and popping color.
Kenneth is visually expressing his memory of the events leading up to his migration to England at nine-years-old as a result of “The Troubles” starting.
He is telling a story as an adult of how having to leave Belfast and everything he knew as a child effected him. The Minister gives a sermon with 1 Corinthians 13:11 in one scene of the film:
13. If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.
1 Corinthians 13
4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. 12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
The scene comes in about halfway through the quote without using all of it. It resonated enough while I was watching the movie. I went back and reviewed the entire verse after, and knew Belfast was a Love Letter by Kenneth to his hometown city.
He wrote about and directed his very own family and community of neighbors on screen.
It was I thought, Kenneth’s way of describing what he was trying to achieve with this film wrapped up in religion that divided half of a country.
Typical irony Kenneth Branagh style.
Even though his childhood is footnoted by “The Troubles” the Belfast Irish and his family in particular had so much love as armor.
You could never break their Pride and Spirit. It’s what the Irish survive on.
It takes a lot to break an Irish Spirit, there isn’t a whiskey bottle big enough to lose it in.
It is expressed in this film introspection that he’s old enough now to explain what his nine-year-old self was thinking through all of it and has the tools in is toolbox to do it on a wide platform.
The B&W also gave Belfast more of a modern Film Noir vibe when you factor in the events back drop. The movie was one of the best I have seen this year. I saw a lot of great films this past year, but this was the best film I saw. It was for its ode to the classic film style and simple story with a low budget release.
(Which reminds me, you know who you are, a ’90’s Scale Indie Film Wave’ would be a welcomed comeback in cinema).
I watched from beginning of the film until the end without looking at my phone. It’s a fair judgment in this day and age with our phone culture.
I know Im not the only one who starts a ‘Law & Order‘ Episode scrolling on my phone but then I remember how good this episode is and I put my phone down.
Saying it louder for the ‘Law and Order’ Lawyers in the back!
When you are telling this story about civil unrest, or violence used as politics, you do have to take along with you what it’s like to be a child surrounded by those events.
The film doesn’t need color or a massive production budget to sell its point.
War is colorful all on its own.
Kenneth Branagh proves this opinion of mine from the very first scene. The film starts in color with a smooth saxophone. As the camera pans through modern day Belfast taking you for a car ride through the city, then you move into the city and over a wall that pans down into a Belfast neighborhood circa August 1969.
As you come over that wall, the little world on the other side of it has transitioned from a beautiful colorful visual ride through current day Belfast in the title credits to right over the wall of nine-year-old Buddy’s Belfast street. We see the conscious effort by Kenneth Branagh to tell this story in B&W, as the color is transitioned in the way the door opens for Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, only reversed.
It was made clear to me using B&W was intentional. It’s a classic way to show this memory within the period of time in his childhood he was reflecting on.
It’s easy artistic explanation for why he chooses this, there is no gray area when it comes to war. There’s only black and white.
It is Good Versus Evil. It’s “The Bad Road” versus “The Good Road” Buddy’s Minister talks of in Church at Sunday Mass.
Buddy is conflicted by everything occurring around him. He wakes up his brother in the middle of the night and asks a question.
Buddy frantically asks “Will, what road did the Minister say, I forgot, what road?”
Will sighs from under the covers, while also turning over to the other side of his bed in frustration. Buddy has woken him in the middle of the night and he simply responds by telling him to shut up. I thought it was a comforting moment from childhood. If you have a brother or sister and you shared a room as kids. You get it. You recognize the dynamic and the entire scene becomes a creature comfort.
Buddy is a young boy growing up within a Protestant Family in Belfast. He doesn’t understand why on August 15, 1969, he was allowed to play with his Catholic friend Paddy after school.
But for some reason he isn’t allowed to the next day on August 16.
Buddy can see for himself the way this disruption has effected his life and the hurt he feels personally.
I think somewhere in his head, Kenneth Branagh thought whatever this is serves no one positively. He looks around and observes his neighborhood streets around him in sudden ruins and barricades. It bothered him so much as a child, losing Paddy as his friend. It was one of his inspirations to tell this story. He said this much in his interview with Bill Maher. You can head over to the FEATURED BLOG page and watch the interview. It is worthy of a view.
That when he was old enough to understand what happened during “The Troubles”…
He answered that question the best way he could.
The current events of the last few years provided him an outlet to build off of. And that would inspire the screenplay that became Belfast.
OH REVIEWS, ‘THE TROUBLES’ HE HAS ‘SCENE’….
In the first scene we see that Buddy (Jude Hill) doesn’t understand what’s going on in the streets of Belfast.
All of a sudden a mob of Protestant Catholic citizens show up and they start violently running through the streets. They start smashing certain home windows, and not others.
The rioters started pulling certain families from their homes violently and brutally. But leaving some families alone, and he really couldn’t understand any of it, especially blowing up the cars in the street. “The Troubles” are only just beginning all around him. They would last for 30 years. Buddy’s mother rescues him in the street violence. She runs in the house and puts him under the kitchen table.
From under the table buddy asks “Mommy, what’s happening?” and the story that is Belfast through the eyes of one of its child victims begins.
Reviews of War Story Warmth…
Even though the film backdrop is a dark and violent event. It is one of the most tumultuous of times for Northern Ireland. The film is warm-hearted. They are also very appealing. Every character is very well developed. It includes exceptional performances by everyone in the cast. “The Family” are written from Kenneth’s memory of His own. He wrote how he saw his real Ma, Pa, Granny, Pop and his Brother through his eyes as a nine-year-old. Kenneth was the middle of three children, a brother and a sister. Will and Joyce. Joyce was not born until 1970 while they were living in Reading, Berkshire, England.
The Fam Reviews….
His Pa (Jamie Dornan) is playing as the moral compass for Buddy. With Buddy’s inquisitive nature for asking questions during this conflicting and violent time. He asks questions most of the movie. At one point Buddy’s father explains his view about “The Troubles” at the kitchen table one Sunday Morning. He explains that he is refusing to see sides in the conflict, there are no sides in their house, because no matter their religious upbringing, they are all Irish neighbors.
His nickname in the film, “The Lone Ranger” was because he won’t choose sides, despite his being a Protestant Catholic. But Pa knew that only bought his family time to make a decision. Not safety for the future in Belfast. Jude Hill in his first acting role gives an especially exceptional performance as Buddy. He carried the entire film. He is going to do great things.
The performance of Ciarán Hinds as Pop, is by far the best of his career, in my opinion. He is deserving of his Oscar Nomination for Belfast.
He portrays Buddy’s wisdom of sorts throughout the film. Buddy spends a great deal of time with his Granny and Pop in the movie. This is due to his father being away for work in England most of the time. There are wonderful conversations between Buddy and Pop and he answers all of Buddy’s questions with great Irish Wisdom.
I watched it and can say writing this review, I was nostalgic thinking of my own Irish Grandparents. They had the same kind of Irish Wisdom. Pop gives Buddy some sound advice in Belfast. When he is worried about going “across the water” and fearing people will think he talks funny, Pop says, “If they can’t understand ya, they’re not listening and that’s their problem.” Pop’s most sound advice, though. “There is nothing wrong with an outside toilet, except on an airplane.” Solid life advice from good ole’ Pop for everyone.
Granny (Judi Dench) offers her own brand of wisdom to Buddy at times. I loved my Granny the way he loved his. She reminded me of my own Irish grandmother. The brilliance in the quiet stillness of her personality to her thick Irish Brogue. I did not need to turn on the subtitles to watch the film. I understood every word. Look at my first name. Siobhan. Clearly I’m Irish.
Maybe I was bias in this review but, Judi Dench can’t make a bad movie. She may be “Granny” in this film. And I loved her in it, but she’ll always be James Bond’s “M” to me. My favorite role of Judi’s for all time. I remember when they made “M” a female and she first played the role. She was such a badass from her very first scene on screen. She is also more than deserving of her Oscar Nomination for Belfast.
The Soundtrack Reviews….
The choice of music for the Soundtrack to the Film is all Van Morrison tracks. They fit so snuggly into their scenes. Van Morrison has also received a nomination this year for his Original Song from the film. Knowing that this story is based on real events in Kenneth Branagh’s life, and Van Morrison is from Belfast himself. Choosing Van Morrison seems purposeful. Morrison grew up around the corner from Kenneth Branagh in the same neighborhood. Van was also already an established as a musician with his band Them before Kenneth left Belfast at just nine-years-old
Van Morrison is most likely an artist he remembers from his childhood in Belfast.
The reason for the music soundtrack choice then is to keep the original memory authentic.
The saxophone music starts at the opening credit scenes. It plays perfectly synced to the passing views of the town of Belfast. Right down to scenes with Ma and Pa dancing in the streets while sharing beers with their community of neighbors.
All the way to the end credits that role. The credits include a dedication to the people of Belfast.
“To the ones who stayed…To the ones who left…And To the ones who were lost…”
Van serenades this love letter film. If you’re a Van Morrison fan, this movie and its soundtrack are most definitely for you.
Filmmaking Legacy Foreshadow Reviews…
In the end, the film was great. I personally felt it was a smart choice to film in Black and White.
It keeps the film authentic while telling the story so much better than color would have. It allows certain scenes to show pivotal moments in Kenneth’s life. Scenes that would become apart of every fiber of his being.
This was due to the few B&W transitions back to Color, boxed around (B&W) scenes we see in the film. It was even smarter to only show the scenes where Buddy goes to “The Big Picture Theater” so we see where his love for visually telling stories comes from. As well as to watch a stage play of the “Christmas Carol” with Granny. Where the thespian is born. These two scenes are Kenneth Branagh, the Director and Shakespearean Actor.
These events start to form that adult man we know and not the child that is Kenneth through Buddy in the film.
To only have the movie screen and stage play in color boxed around the movie screen and theater stage while not the entire scene, it gave those scenes relevance and let us know Kenneth wants us to know these particular moments in Belfast matter incredibly, because we all have personally invested in what his future becomes in someway. He sees them clearly in Color. There is no Black, White or Grey area to these being pivotal moments in his development and individuality. While watching, we know these events matter in forming the individual he will become later in life. We know what Buddy doesn’t.
Reviews The Man, The Legacy and His Belfast…
I know Kenneth Branagh as the Shakespearean Actor, Agatha Christie lover and Death on the Nile Director. As well as the Writer and Producer that he became, despite this traumatically violent time in his childhood that could have had a different outcome on who he would mold into as a young man.
Those moments of the film show us where his love for Theater and the World of Filmmaking came from, and to know that he shared those moments with his family in Belfast, make them that much sweeter. And this movie that much better.
Living Belfast Legend…
Those trips to the theater to watch a movie would grow to define him later. We know that these peaks at color in those scenes of trips to the movies and even the subtle shot in B&W of the Agatha Christie Novel sitting on the table Christmas Morning are an ode to the man he will become. And the things that he loved as a child that would make him the person we know today. And Bill Maher said it best, he IS the Laurence Olivier of our time. He didn’t just play him in My Week with Marilyn.
