Steve McQueen returns to the big screen with his first fictional film since the disappointing Widows in 2014. A young boy called George (Elliott Heffernan) is evacuated from London in 1940. Not wanting to leave his Mum, Rita (Saoirse Ronan) and Grandad Gerald (Paul Weller), he jumps off the train an hour into his journey and tries to make his way home. When word reaches her that he is missing, a distraught Rita searches for him during some of the heaviest nights of bombing.
I found both parts of the story to be totally compelling. George’s odyssey, with the disparate characters, good and bad, that he meets felt like an old-fashioned adventure story, whilst the almost constant peril that Rita and her fellow Londoners faced her rarely been captured better on screen. We are used to people being depicted as stoic with stiff-upper-lips, but McQueen also shows the fear and panic frighteningly well.
I was reminded of John Boorman’s Hope and Glory though it felt less sentimental about the period, especially with the scenes of racial hatred. Less obviously, I found myself comparing it to last year’s Empire of Light and Belfast from 2022 in that there will be much more resonance with British audiences than American ones. That will probably exclude this largely from the awards race, though the brilliant Ronan is being tipped for a supporting actress nomination in what is clearly a lead role. There are other notable performances, such as a surprisingly good Weller, newcomer Heffernan and Harris Dickinson as an auxiliary fireman who holds a candle for Rita. They are all deserving of recognition.
Although CGI is obviously used, the bombing and other moments of destruction are very believable and immersive. I was also impressed by Hans Zimmer’s score, especially during one sequence when George bunks onto a goods train, when the music reflects the noise of the engine in a way that reminded me of his Dunkirk score.
There are some small weaknesses, including a too on-the-nose speech about all religions and creeds sticking together and a very clichéd East End pub scene, but otherwise, this is a powerful story and I think McQueen’s best work.
Rating: 9 out of 10