Opening the BFI London Film Festival is the thriller Blitz by the famous director and winner of the Oscar, Steven McQueen. Based on the events of the Second World War in London, the picture reflects the state of war feelings experienced by a child.
Blitz also stars Saoirse Ronan; the movie is centered on a mother who has sent her son George to the countryside to keep him safe, but he comes back to the city. Experienced by young actor Elliott Heffernan, George’s storyline takes the viewer through the primary focus of the plot and combines the perspectives of the protagonist.
During an interview about his work, McQueen said that his intention behind his creation is to wake society up to recall what it means to be at war or more specifically, what it means for the children who are actually in the war. “As concerning adults, where do we turn the cheek beside the truth to war as it is for children?” he questioned. The project has been in the works for quite some time now, but McQueen says that the timing could not be more perfect as the film comes out in the middle of global conflicts like in Gaza and Ukraine.
The film’s inspiration came from an evocative image McQueen discovered during his research: the boy depicted in a photograph taken at the train station waiting for a train to be evacuated from a city under attack. Specifically, the idea for the collection was inspired by this photograph of a black child in a huge coat waiting.
What is fresh and original in Blitz is the representation of a multiply-voiced wartime London. Ife, the Nigerian air raid warden, is a real historical character and provides almost a diverse image in the cosmopolitan community in London during those years. McQueen said he did it because he wanted to depict the harsh reality of living in such a city during the civil rights movement.
Every aspect of fear in civilians during war is depicted from when the sound of bombs is getting nearer and nearer to the scramble for safer areas. Even though the setting of the movie was the Second World War, McQueen wants the audiences of the present time to understand that the tragedy continues to this day.
Blitz is set to premiere in theaters on November 1st and on Apple TV+ around the globe on November 22nd.
