An Audio Visual Spectacle - Blitz Review

Blitz, Steve McQueen

Steve McQueen’s newest film Blitz (2024) is an audio and visual spectacle with a heart at the centre and a message that transcends generations. The sometimes clunky dialogue and underbaked characters are almost immaterial when placed against the visual and audio might of the grander set pieces. Saorise Ronan shines as Rita, the mother of newcomer Elliot Heffernan and the pair have an excellent dynamic, as a mixed race family in the 1930s. Harris Dickinson, who has turned out many recent excellent performances is confusingly cast as a young local Air Warden but as his character is hardly seen completely and included more of Paul Weller who brings tremendous pathos and empathy as George’s grandfather.  Benjamin Clementine, is also a stand out as Ife, a Nigerian Air Warden, who I discovered was based on a real man who was too old to serve on the front line but wanted to do his part for the war effort named Ika Ekpenyon.

This film is a visual and audio assault that gives some insight into the horrors of the Blitz. As a mixed race person I felt an almost unbearable sense of kinship with George and the film served as a stark reminder of how little things have really changed, especially in the wake of the riots of summer 2024.

Another upsetting similarity is the current air strikes on Gaza, the film asks us to remember that whenever there is war in civilian areas it is the children who are ultimately the victims.  However despite these allusions the film is distinctly British, not in a patriotic way but one that holds all the contradicting parts of British history together and shows them to us cracks and all. The Blitz is so entrenched in our cultural history, it informs a feeling of defiance, keeping calm and carrying on, a country joining together to survive. It is a story we are told as children but I don’t ever remember being told about people dying in the streets because the shelters were full or shelters dug in parks for the wording that we’re little more than trenches with corrugated iron on top, vulnerable to collapse burying those hiding inside.

I also don’t remember being told about black evacuees or air wardens. The history of Britain we are taught in schools is a white one, a beige reflection of the truth of our country. McQueen upended this idea in his series Small Axe and he goes back further in history here and firmly plants us in the canon of Britain. Class, race and gender were not erased during the war as people ‘came together’  but exacerbated by it, this is the war time Britain we see in Blitz. 

The lingering thought I was left with was the future children who will be watching this film in a history classroom in 5 years, and I feel positive that they will be able to learn from something with such a strong heart and a new historical perspective.

Release Date: November 1st 2024
Directed by Steve McQueen
Written by Steve McQueen
Produced by Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Steve McQueen, Anita Overland, Adam Somner, Arnon Milchan, Yariv Milchan, Michael Schaefer
Main Cast: Saoirse Ronan, Elliott Heffernan, Harris Dickinson, Benjamin Clementine, Kathy Burke, Paul Weller, Stephen Graham
Cinematographer: Yorick Le Saux
Composer: Hans Zimmer
Distributor: Apple TV+
Runtime: 120 minutes.