Hollywood, CA—Acclaimed director Steve McQueen is known for his unflinching, morally urgent cinematic works, from the devastating portrait of slavery in 12 Years a Slave to the gritty urban drama of his Small Axe anthology series. With his latest film, Blitz, McQueen has once again proven his ability to tackle a weighty historical subject with a fresh, uncompromising perspective.
Blitz, which recently premiered at the New York Film Festival, is McQueen’s take on the harrowing Blitz bombings that devastated London during World War II. However, rather than the familiar, stiff-upper-lip narratives that often characterize this era, McQueen’s film offers a bold, objective look at the lived experiences of ordinary Londoners, particularly those on the margins of society.
At the heart of the story are Rita (Saoirse Ronan) and her young son, George (Elliott Heffernan), whose lives are upended when the Luftwaffe’s relentless bombing campaigns force Rita to send George away to the countryside for safety. But when George jumps off the evacuation train, he embarks on a perilous journey back to the city, navigating the chaos of wartime London far from the romanticized vision often portrayed on screen.
“Blitz narratives are not uncommon in film and television; many of them pip-pip, keep calm, and carry on stories of people bearing up nobly during their darkest hour,” explains the reviewer for The A.V. Club. “Blitz seeks to give further nuance to our understanding of that time and place, to paint a more accurate mural.”
One of the ways McQueen achieves this is by putting the experiences of marginalized communities front and center. George, the biracial son of a white mother and a Black father, faces prejudice and discrimination from his fellow Londoners, a reality that McQueen unflinchingly depicts.
“McQueen lets the realities of that difference emerge gradually; it is plainly stated at times, yes, but otherwise, we see it manifest as subtle slights, moments of disregard,” the reviewer notes. “George is not cared for by the strangers in his community as other 9-year-old boys might be. McQueen carefully points out that in 1941, London was not a city grandly unified by struggle; deteriorating conditions exacerbated racial, economic, and political tensions.
This attention to the complexities of wartime London is a hallmark of McQueen’s approach, which sets Blitz apart from more conventional World War II narratives. The film doesn’t shy away from the harsh realities of the Blitz, with McQueen’s trademark visual style capturing the chaos and destruction with a visceral intensity. But it also finds moments of humanity and grace, as George’s journey brings him into contact with characters like Ife (Benjamin Clementine), a Black air raid warden who helps the young boy grapple with his racial identity.
“Blitz is neither a feel-good movie about wartime London nor unrelentingly bleak,” the reviewer explains. “The film treads a meandering line, traversing between Spielbergian adventure marred by violence, Dickensian child-in-peril squalidness, and social survey—both dreamy and probing—that feels entirely McQueen’s.”
This blending of genres and tones is a testament to McQueen’s skill as a filmmaker. He weaves a tapestry of experiences that challenge the audience’s preconceptions about the Blitz. While the film may not always seamlessly stitch together its various narrative threads, the overall effect is a work of stunning complexity and emotional power.
The reviewer notes, “Blitz is guided and animated by a deep and abiding humanism. It operates with the conviction that the historical record, or at least the film’s version, ought to reflect the true demographic variance and sprawl of a city or country as it was.”
In an era when history lessons feel more urgent than ever, Blitz stands as a bold, uncompromising entry into the canon of World War II films. It demands the audience’s attention and refuses to offer easy answers, challenging us to confront the harsh realities of the past while finding glimmers of hope and humanity in the most devastating circumstances.