“Blitz” (2024)
When I heard Saoirse Ronan was starring in a Steve McQueen film, that’s all I needed to know to put “Blitz” at the top of my watchlist.
Seeing one of our brightest stars working with one of our best filmmakers on this life-during-wartime film lived up to every expectation.
However, the real star of “Blitz” is Elliott Heffernan as George, the son of Ronan’s character, Rita.
During Germany’s heavy bombing campaign against England in World War II, Rita decides to send her son to the countryside, a tough decision many parents made to protect their kids during the war.
George decides to jump from the train taking him away and find his way back to his mother, a perilous journey that has him crossing paths with the best and worst of humanity. Another character describes George as a “scrapper,” which is most definitely an accurate assessment of him and how he maneuvers through life.
Though only a child, Heffernan has an incredible presence that allow him to perfectly carry the majority of this film, which also cuts to what is going on with Rita and has some flashbacks to earlier in their lives.
Ronan is incredible as always, conveying the frantic emotions of a woman whose child is missing without ever going into caricature.
Perhaps what I loved most about “Blitz” is that it is not the typical war film. Instead of focusing on soldiers or politicians, this film centers on the everyday, working-class folks who had to do their best to survive during the horrors of war.
If you’re looking for a character study in the middle of the big spectacle films of the season, I recommend watching “Blitz.”