Posted on Mar 27, 2022
In Kenneth Branagh’s Oscar-nominated ‘Belfast,’ displaced people see their own stories
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At the end of Kenneth Branagh’s Oscar-nominated movie “Belfast,” words appear over a lingering shot of the city’s legendary shipyards: “For the ones who stayed. For the ones who left. And for all the ones who were lost.”
The poignant epithet sums up the conflicting emotions that Branagh said he grappled with in making the movie, a nostalgia-filled reflection on his childhood in the working-class north Belfast, Northern Ireland, of the 1960s. It tells the story of his own family, who lived happily alongside their neighbors until sectarian rioting transformed their peaceful street into a scene of menace and despair, eventually forcing them to flee.
In addition to being nominated for seven Oscars, including best picture and best director, “Belfast” has been celebrated by people around the world for exploring the emotional complexities of displacement and what it means to see one’s home, with all its familiarity and warmth, violently disrupted and turned into something unrecognizable.
The poignant epithet sums up the conflicting emotions that Branagh said he grappled with in making the movie, a nostalgia-filled reflection on his childhood in the working-class north Belfast, Northern Ireland, of the 1960s. It tells the story of his own family, who lived happily alongside their neighbors until sectarian rioting transformed their peaceful street into a scene of menace and despair, eventually forcing them to flee.
In addition to being nominated for seven Oscars, including best picture and best director, “Belfast” has been celebrated by people around the world for exploring the emotional complexities of displacement and what it means to see one’s home, with all its familiarity and warmth, violently disrupted and turned into something unrecognizable.
In Kenneth Branagh’s Oscar-nominated ‘Belfast,’ displaced people see their own stories
Posted from nbcnews.com
Belfast
Movies
Posted 2 y ago
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
..."People who have been displaced by war or political repression told NBC News they recognized chapters of their own lives in the scenes depicted in “Belfast.” These conversations have taken on additional significance as millions of Ukrainians flee their homes in the face of the Russian invasion.
In promoting the movie, Branagh spoke about the sense of dislocation he felt after his family left Belfast for England in 1969. That was the year a 30-year conflict known as “The Troubles” began in Northern Ireland. It pitted mainly Catholic nationalists who wanted to become part of the Republic of Ireland against mainly Protestant unionists who wanted to remain part of the United Kingdom.
The opening scene of the movie lovingly re-creates the city of Branagh’s youth: On a cheerful street of terraced houses, children play together before their mothers call them in for dinner, while men gather and tell oft-repeated jokes. The scene is animated by the music of Belfast native Van Morrison, and one can almost smell the grease of a traditional fried Irish breakfast wafting through kitchen windows.
But 9-year-old Buddy, representing Branagh himself, watches uncomprehendingly as a sectarian riot crashes into this merry image, torching cars, destroying houses and even ripping up the very paving stones people walked on. Branagh said he found the destruction of his street profoundly disorientating. "...
..."People who have been displaced by war or political repression told NBC News they recognized chapters of their own lives in the scenes depicted in “Belfast.” These conversations have taken on additional significance as millions of Ukrainians flee their homes in the face of the Russian invasion.
In promoting the movie, Branagh spoke about the sense of dislocation he felt after his family left Belfast for England in 1969. That was the year a 30-year conflict known as “The Troubles” began in Northern Ireland. It pitted mainly Catholic nationalists who wanted to become part of the Republic of Ireland against mainly Protestant unionists who wanted to remain part of the United Kingdom.
The opening scene of the movie lovingly re-creates the city of Branagh’s youth: On a cheerful street of terraced houses, children play together before their mothers call them in for dinner, while men gather and tell oft-repeated jokes. The scene is animated by the music of Belfast native Van Morrison, and one can almost smell the grease of a traditional fried Irish breakfast wafting through kitchen windows.
But 9-year-old Buddy, representing Branagh himself, watches uncomprehendingly as a sectarian riot crashes into this merry image, torching cars, destroying houses and even ripping up the very paving stones people walked on. Branagh said he found the destruction of his street profoundly disorientating. "...
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