Belfast

[Juniper68]

Has anyone seen it?
I'm thinking of going. Jamie Dornan has nothing to do with it

Masterpiece

@upinaballoon

Bloody Sunday, 50 years ago. I saw a bit of Kenneth Branagh talking about this film, ' Belfast', but I didn't hear all of what he said, so I have no idea whether he made it to coincide with the 50th anniversary but I can't help thinking that it isn't just a coincidence. I liked the film. I wouldn't mind seeing it again.

(Digression:-Saw K Branagh as Henry V years ago, on film, nice touch of mascara.)

There was significant mascara in his Henry V.

I haven’t seen this yet, but I hope Judi Dench is better as an Irish character than she was in Philomena, opposite the equally miscast Steve Coogan.

We got it on a Tuesday £4.50 deal. I found it a bit cheesy and Judi Dench's accent was terrible.
I thought Buddy was a fantastic wee actor. I did enjoy the music.
I'd say for people watching it who immigrated during that period, it was nostalgic and pulled at their heart strings.
For someone who lived through the Troubles it just brought back how horrific those times were and how normalised it became for us who lived through it.
Entertainment for some, reality for others.

@SceneDrama

I found it very self-indulgent, very sanitised and very cheesy. I laughed in parts but found some of the humor a bit shoe-horned in and laboured. The get togethers weren't rambunctious enough, it was too clean. Maybe it was all the OMO

🙄

I saw it last night. I'm belfast born and bred. I found it really emotional. Beautifully shot. Music was great. There's a special intro from Kenneth B for belfast audiences.

For those who left
For those who stayed
For those who were lost

We saw it last night and loved it.
“It’s biological “ was said several times in the car on the way home

For me it was just too realistic/ violent/ depressing. I remember bomb scares when I was a child and the film brought back all those memories. I grew up just outside London and remember vividly shopping centres or other places closed because of a 'suspicious package'.

I don't understand this point

@bindud

For me it was just too realistic/ violent/ depressing. I remember bomb scares when I was a child and the film brought back all those memories. I grew up just outside London and remember vividly shopping centres or other places closed because of a 'suspicious package'.

I don't understand this point

I agree. Plus the story of then conflict in Belfast at that particular time is unique.

Agree, that's why I don't get it.

@bindud

For me it was just too realistic/ violent/ depressing. I remember bomb scares when I was a child and the film brought back all those memories. I grew up just outside London and remember vividly shopping centres or other places closed because of a 'suspicious package'.

I don't understand this point

I don't know how old you all are on here and what you remember of The Troubles. The Troubles didn't affect only Belfast. The IRA used to put bombs in shops and bins etc. on the British mainland so I can see what BlueBlue was saying. Rubbish bins were taken out of the big London railway stations because they were such good places to drop a bomb into. I don't think the bins have ever been put back.

I was born in the 80s in London & raised there to Republican parents with family in Belfast....

I saw it last night. There were aspects of it I loved. I felt it really accurately portrayed things through the eyes of a child. The cinematography was gorgeous. I loved the little boy’s relationship with his grandparents and his acting was amazing.

I found some of the dialogue a bit forced. The accents were off in parts. It was schmalzy in places. The neighbourhood ‘bad guy’ wasn’t a great actor and I thought that storyline wasn’t very well developed. Parts of it were a bit laboured and directionless.

An intimate, poignant film overall, though. The ending (‘for those who stayed’) made me cry (I have personal experience of the Troubles).

Surely it’s incredibly self-indulgent for @BlueBlueCowWondering to be claiming that her memories of shopping centres in England being closed because of a bomb scare in anyway equate to the lived experience of people in Belfast actually living through the Troubles? If that is in fact what she is saying. One hopes not.

@InisnaBro

Surely it’s incredibly self-indulgent for *@BlueBlueCowWondering* to be claiming that her memories of shopping centres in England being closed because of a bomb scare in anyway equate to the lived experience of people in Belfast actually living through the Troubles? If that is in fact what she is saying. One hopes not.

Agreed. I grew up in Dublin and while we were in no way as badly affected as those in the North I was almost caught up in the Liberty Hall bomb with my grandmother as a child. I remember many bomb scares too.

The film is about Branagh’s family and their experience and what led them to move to England. Of course it’s going to have to be realistic.

@InisnaBro I was just about to say my experience of growing up in London was nothing compared to relatives in Belfast. Which is why I found the original comment so odd.

However one thing i've learned growing up here there is quite a lack of knowledge around the Troubles.

@InisnaBro

Surely it’s incredibly self-indulgent for *@BlueBlueCowWondering* to be claiming that her memories of shopping centres in England being closed because of a bomb scare in anyway equate to the lived experience of people in Belfast actually living through the Troubles? If that is in fact what she is saying. One hopes not.

Some rather wilful misunderstanding here. Do you really need it spelled out that I wasn't equating, merely expressing my memories of the feelings of the time. Clear enough for you?

I couldn't see any place in BlueBlue's post that suggested that she was equating the bomb scares scenario in London with Belfast's experience, but that it reminded her of those days.

As to lack of knowledge, it's hard to teach young people everything at school, so I can't expect a 23 year-old to remember Bernadette Devlin's maiden speech in the House of Commons, which I do, but a 23 year-old can go and see this film without knowing too much about the centuries of background to it.

@upinaballoon
Thank you

As to lack of knowledge, it's hard to teach young people everything at school

why do you think it's only young people will the lack of knowledge?

I loved it. Yes sentimental and a bit OTT but that's what Sir Ken does imo. I was born in Belfast in the Spring of 1969 so obviously didn't remember this but took my Mum and she said it was realistic. We both live in England now so it was a lovely wallow in our Belfastness

I have no desire to listen to Bernadette Devlins speech- she was involved in the setting up of the INLA, who killed, and who continue to engage in paramilitary activities, and is not the ‘freedom fighter’ she purports to be.

I've seen it twice, once out of curiosity and the second time with my mum. I'm born and reared in NI and ime it was just ok. Judi Dench was badly cast, her accent was shockingly bad and she looked more like Jamie Dornan's granny. It was very sentimental which is understandable from the young lad's perspective. But I really don't get the rave reviews, lots of people I know didn't rate it, I'm not sure it was really for the NI market.

@BlueBlueCowWondering, it’s pretty clear what a witless comment it was. It’s a real shame the film struck you as violent and depressing, and reminded you of the dreadful moments when your shopping was interrupted.

I thought it was excellent - it seemed to be a love letter to Belfast but also a lament to what Belfast lost because of the Troubles - all through the eyes of one little boy, who could have been any one of the thousands and thousands of kids of his generation.