Content Advisory: Death/harm to Child, Kidnapping, Racism
A 9-year-old-old boy tries to make it home to his mother during the London bombings of World War II in Blitz. George (Elliott Heffernan) is a 9-year-old mixed race boy, who lives with his single mother Rita (Saoirse Ronan) and her father Gerald (Paul Weller) during the World War II blitz, where London was bombed by Germany on a near-nightly basis. Rita makes the tough decision to evacuate George and places him on a train to the countryside. However, George would rather be home and he ends up jumping off the train and begins to make his way back to London, getting into an assortment of misadventure along the way.
Blitz Synopsis
Blitz is a World War II set drama written and directed by Steve McQueen (Shame, 12 Years a Slave, Widows) and stars newcomer Elliott Heffernan as the child protagonist George and Saoirse Ronan (Foe, The Outrun) as his munitions factory worker mother Rita. With the nightly bombing of London worsening and shelter being difficult to find, Rita makes the tough decision to put George on a train to safety. However, after George is subject to racist bullying by some of the other children, he makes the decision to hop from the train and try to find his way back to his home in London.
Rita is immensely distraught when she finds out George didn’t make his destination and she seeks the help of his soldier friend Jack (Harris Dickinson) to assist with the search. George meanwhile has a difficult time navigating the dangerous streets of London and he ends up getting into many misadventures. This includes receiving help from the kind African soldier Ife (Benjamin Clémentine) and being kidnapped by and forced to assist criminal looter Albert (Stephen Graham).
My Thoughts on Blitz
Even though she receives top billing for this latest film by writer and director Steve McQueen, Saoirse Ronan’s Rita is very much a supporting character in Blitz, with newcomer Elliott Heffernan as 9-year-old George being the true focus of the story. The plot is structure somewhat similarly to Homer’s The Odyssey, as George tries to find his way home, getting in various misadventure along the way. In some ways, this makes Blitz a tonally inconsistent film, as the situation for George frequently shifts from hopeful to dire.
The plot of Blitz is actually better when the focus is on Saoirse Ronan as Rita, who along with the other women in London are working in the weapons factory, while the men are at war. A key scene of the film involves Rita singing a song over the radio, which she dedicates to George, though she doesn’t yet know at this time that he didn’t make it to his destination. During the nights, Rita begins volunteering at one of the underground shelters, where she calms down the injured children.
One of the recurring themes throughout Blitz involved George’s status as a mixed race child, which makes him the target of bullying and racism. The film features a flashback showing what happened to George’s father, which also seems to suggest why Rita is so attached to him. George’s race becomes less of an issue as the film progresses and he finds himself forced to steal jewels for a gang of looters, in probably one of the more frustrating and unnecessary plotlines of the film.
It seems like that with Blitz, Steve McQueen wanted to show how tumultuous a time the Second World War was, while also diluting the horrors somewhat to be seen from a child’s perspective. This includes the fact that Blitz ends up having a very bittersweet ending. Altogether, while Saoirse Ronan is great as always, Blitz ends up being way too tonally inconsistent a World War II drama.