Kenneth Branagh ought to be, and I hope will be, remembered when he is done as a very important filmmaker.  While he has been the modern master of Shakespeare films and adaptations, even portraying the Bard in 2018’s All is True, his acting career now spans forty years and he has directed some twenty films, from film noir to superhero action flicks.  Most impressive of all, just about anything with which he is associated is of high quality.  If anything, he is underrated and under appreciated in his time.  Now he has made the autobiographical film Belfast, which is sure to be an end-of-the-year awards candidate.

Kenneth Branagh’s film is based on his own childhood experiences in the capital of Northern Ireland in 1969, when rioting due to religious intolerance threatened his urban neighborhood.  Young Buddy (Jude Hill) is Branagh as a child, enjoying his comfortable familial existence and turning to movies to escape the ever-increasing divisiveness engulfing the neighborhood as Catholic thugs try to push out the remaining Protestants.  Buddy’s parents (Jamie Dornan and Caitriona Balfe) try to protect their two boys from danger but it is impossible for either of them to stay completely out of trouble, especially with Pa having to spend weeks at a time away from home working in England.

The day-to-day struggles to stay afloat are balanced with scenes of joy and adventure as Buddy and his older brother Will (Lewis McAskie) mature in an environment that is changing around them.  In a charming subplot Buddy gradually befriends schoolmate Catherine (Olive Tennant), a girl he’s had a crush on, bringing him ever closer to adulthood.  Grandparents are a major factor in Buddy’s life, and are beautifully portrayed by Judi Dench and Ciarán Hinds.  But, because of the unrest and threat of even more to come, everything is about to change.

Branagh has filmed this autobiographical story in black-and-white to accentuate the appearance of the past (although a couple of the movie scenes they watch are in color).  The family dynamic is exquisitely drawn, and the acting is superb, especially from Balfe, who exudes vitality in every scene, and Hinds, who calmly accepts his character’s imminent mortality while giving Buddy the best advice he can.  I’m not crazy about the rioting scenes and their unconnectedness to the families that live on their street; it seems to me that since everybody knows everybody there should have been more conflict about the rampant destruction.  Maybe there isn’t because it is seen through Buddy’s eyes and he is unaware of the issues and intolerance.  It also bothers me that intolerance essentially wins the fight, although there are certainly other factors, mainly economic, at work as well.  But as a coming-of-age story, Belfast is powerful and evocative.  ☆ ☆ ☆ 1/2.  28 November 2021.