This was not Steve McQueen's Finest Hour, or two, for that matter. The problem with these Brits at War type films is that they are either blatant propaganda or sloppy sentimentalism. Blitz is not the former but certainly falls at times into the second category.
I'm a big fan of the director, yet with his latest offering he sometimes loses his way with what exactly he's trying to tell us. Is he stating that racism existed in England during World War Two? Well the answer is yes, of course it did. Is he trying to tell us there was a class system during the war? Well again, of course there was. So, accepting those two facts, what about the movie? His narrative is basic, struggling for a story and for what it is, weak and wayward. Saoirse Ronan stars as Rita, the mother of 9 year old George - an excellent Elliot Heffernan. They live with her Dad, Gerald (Paul Weller) in the East End of London just as the Blitz begins in 1940.
There isn't a great chance of Spoilers here because there isn't much of a narrative. George is the victim of racism, as are some of the cast including a couple of fine performances from Benjamin Clementine and Leigh Gill. Rita also suffers abuse as a white woman with a mixed race child. There are some good scenes of the bombardment and its aftermath in the movie and in its way, is a tribute to the firefighters, police and rescue services of the time. However, McQueen reminds us, timely, that even our First Responders can project racism and prejudice.
McQueen, to his credit doesn't turn the film into a quasi documentary, does over sentimentalise at times. There is a rather pointless, bordering on the silly scene with a bunch of thieves and looters headed up by usual suspect's, the superb Stephen Graham and Kathy Burke, but to be honest, it should have been left on the cutting room floor.
Ronan won't be adding to her award tally here, but she does a fine job, if possibly miscast. Paul Weller the former Jam and Style Council frontman is a breath of fresh air and I wish we had seen more of him than just knocking out a song on an old piano.
