“Blitz,” by British director Steve McQueen, depicts Londoners during the Blitz (blitzkrieg) of World War II in 1940. The harrowing drama focuses on a young bi-racial boy (Elliott Heffernan). Elliot was sent to the countryside by his mother (Saoirse Ronan) for safekeeping. Approximately 500,000 young children were sent to the countryside from London to protect them from the blitz. This lasted from September 1940 through May 1941. Young George Hanway, age 9, jumps off the train taking him to safety and tries to return to his home in Stepney, Clifford Lane, and his piano-playing grandfather (Paul Weller) and Mom. Forty-three thousand civilians, primarily in London, were killed; that number represented half of Britain’s wartime civilian casualties.
Young British boy being sent to the countryside for safekeeping during the blitz, on July 5, 1940.
I began wondering what caused Writer/Director Steve McQueen to go back in time, historically, and create such an accurate depiction of what it must have been like to live through the war-time bombing of London. Perhaps the germ of an idea came out of McQueen’s expressed wish to do with the city of London something similar to what Martin Scorsese has done with New York City? McQueen has a highly developed artistic background; it serves him well in “Blitz.” When asked about the inspiration for the film, he mentioned a picture he had seen of a small boy of the time being sent off to the countryside on July 5, 1940. It was this picture that guided much of the search for a young boy to play the lead role, as McQueen envisioned the blitz being seen through a child’s eyes.
CAST
Elliott Heffernan was cast as that small child, the son of Rita Hanway (Saiorse Ronan), a white worker in the factory making bombs for Britain, and an absent Black father from Grenada, who is deported, leaving nothing behind for his wife and child but a St. Christopher Medal. McQueen said, in other interviews, “To some extent, he (newcomer Elliott Heffernan) carries this movie.” Elliott was 9 when filming began. “He was 8 when he auditioned,” says McQueen. “So he was a little boy, and he auditioned because he’d never done acting before. As soon as I saw him, I thought, ‘Oh, he is the truth!’ He wasn’t going to pretend to be a child. He was a child.” (“Deadline” interview).
Also carrying the movie and singing in it, as well, is Saiorse Ronan (“The Lovely Bones,” “Brooklyn,” “Atonement”). McQueen’s lead actress has two strong films out this year with “The Outrun” receiving Oscar buzz. Says McQueen of Saoirse Ronan, “She’s like Bette Davis. She’s that good.” He called her “interesting” and “fascinating. “She makes the ordinary extraordinary, the arbitrary fascinating.” The eyelash scene, where Rita asks George to “make a wish” on an eyelash plucked from his cheek was actually something that occurred naturally between Saiorse and Elliott while they were killing time between scenes and bonding. McQueen chose to take the normal ordinary gesture and use it prominently in the film.
MUSIC
For composer Hans Zimmer, this is a deeply personal movie. His mother was evacuated from Germany and spent the war years in London. He remembered her stories about living in Mayfair, with bombs dropping all around. Zimmer reflected on his childhood when composing the score, constructing it from a child’s perspective of terror and chaos, opening with an orchestra of children’s recorders. Zimmer’s score for this film is mentioned as a probable Oscar nominee. There are also many period songs utilized in the film and much (too much?) singing.
When Steve McQueen accepted an Artistic Achievement Award on October 22, 2016 at the Chicago International Film Festival, he said, “But sound is also the most important thing in a film. Sound is so important in film. People need to lean in to listen. It gives them something to do.”
CHARACTERS BASED ON ACTUAL WWII PEOPLE
Leigh Gill (“Joker,” “Game of Thrones”) portrayed “Mickey the Midget”. Mickey Davies, who was a local optician and community organizer, stepped up. His goal was to help make the time spent underground in the subway more humane. (Buckets for restrooms, for openers.) There was a movement to memorialize Mickey IRL with a statue, but it died when Boris Johnson was Mayor of London.
Benjamin Clementine (“Dune: Part One”) portrays Ife, who was based on the real-life E.I. EKpenyon, a law student from Nigeria who became an air warden in Marleybone. Ife (“love” in Nigerian of the Yoruba people) teaches George to sing “Alleluia”. George accompanies him on his nightly route, telling the locals to honor the blackout during the blitz. [Like all the horror movies where you know it’s a bad sign when someone says they are going to go to the attic or the basement, the well-meaning promises that Ife makes to George about returning him to his home the next day bring a sense of dread since George seems to mostly be victimized by others during his attempt to reach home.]
The Cast Continues to Shine
Paul Weller (“Grosse Pointe Blank”) plays Gerald or Grand-dad. Seeing a picture of Paul McCartney with his father and a piano triggered the selection of Weller. One of the more haunting images (*spoiler alert*) is of Granddad’s dead body after he becomes one of the victims of the blitz. The camera lingers on his face in the rubble.
There were two Black clubs in London at the time. One was the Shim-Sham and, on the Piccadilly side, there was the Café de Paris. The latter was frequented by locals because it was below ground and considered safer. Onscreen, the local bandleader, Ken “Snakehips” Johnson is well-played by a young Black man in a white tux and tails who introduces a stunning Black singer in a white dress who sings “Oh, Johnny!.” Both were impressive. Sadly, two bombs entered the ventilation shaft to the underground club and a scene is set in the remains of the club which involves young George and what is left of the club. Plot-wise, it seemed to be reaching a bit in depicting this adventure of the 9-year-old.
PICARESQUE HERO
Filmed at 13 locations around England and London, McQueen has said of “Blitz,” “It’s a very dark fairy tale. It’s the Brothers Grimm. And that’s the journey George goes on.” In the English-speaking world, the term “picaresque” is often used loosely. It refers to novels that contain an episodic list of adventures on the road. An English Literature major, I recognize that the term applies to young George’s adventures. while trying to return home. While some of the adventures held your interest, having them ALL happen seems a bit much. In my notes, I wrote, “Needs a bit more to sustain the plot when it’s simply George being victimized over and over by ne’er-do-wells.”
CONCLUSION
In some ways, the comparisons to “Belfast,” which opened the 57th Chicago International Film Festival, are valid. Both turn the clock back on time, although “Blitz” does so in a much more arresting style, visually. The opening scene alone, where an old-style leaky canvas firehose is proving almost impossible to control while fighting the fires in the streets of London, is riveting. Others along the way, especially the scenes of how life went down in the tube (subway) are equally mesmerizing. Seeing this one on the big screen of a theater, as with the Music Box Theater at the 60th Chicago International Film Festival is recommended.
The attempts to recognize real heroes like Mickey Davies and to preach a bit in one subway scene (“We are all equal members of this country, willing or not…Treat each other with compassion and respect.”), while laudable, come off as a bit preachy with everything going down around us in the world today. We can applaud the message and hope and pray that it is internalized and practiced by one and all. But, in this country, at least, we are all about to go to the polls to vote for a new President. One of the candidates has made a mockery of that message. The expression used by one critic was that the movie’s message was “muffled by good intentions.” That applies, but even more than that, there was something so old-fashioned about the film that it surprised me that it was from Steve McQueen.
The film opens in theaters on November 1st and will be streaming on Apple by November 22nd. There is also an Apple special that will be a “behind-the-scenes” look at the making of “Blitz”. This special should be truly entertaining, just as researching some of the real-life background for the film was, for me.
It’s a powerful beautifully executed film. It will resonate with anyone who hopes we learn from the mistakes of our past and forge better paths to peace in our future.