Steve McQueen directs Saoirse Ronan, Elliot Heffernan and Kathy Burke in this WWII drama where an East End single mother and her mixed race son are separated as German bombs pummel London.

This is in many ways McQueen’s most anonymous, mainstream work. Reminding as much of Titanic in structure as anything else… strong emotional core, living history museum tour, rollercoaster ride final act. And I have always been kind of dumbfounded there aren’t more movies that tried to be Jim Cameron’s Titanic. The scale isn’t there. This is arty, edgier, more self aware. But here is a history lesson tearjerker adventure that strings together a series of episodes and interesting forgotten disasters into one condensed narrative. Some of the mini plots (escaping a railway depot, a run in with a band of evil body robbers) could belong in a prestige CBBC big Christmas miniseries. Others (Rita’s song over the radio, Mikey Davis’ socialist shelter, the bombing of the Cafe De Paris, the flooding of a tube station) are absolutely enthralling moments of sincere reenactment with greater purpose. And no matter how plummy or cosy a sequence feels, McQueen is never too far away with a startling abrasive shock. He say a lot here about British society and its schisms, often heavy handed. But as immersive history lessons (and Saoirse starrers) go, Blitz was very welcome, tactile and involving. I didn’t expect quite so much Paul Weller though.

8

Perfect Double Bill: Atonement (2007)