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Its a necessary re-orientation toward humanity, even when it occasionally falters.
Thats not the only transformation that happens.
Later, we see some of these neighbors turn on each other.
We see the young girl the greengrocer greets try and loot that very same store.
We see the women who watch out for Buddys well-being spread rumors about his mom.
Buddys family are Protestants, and soon their fellow Protestants are demanding that they turn on their Catholic neighbors.
He and his wife are mired in debt, which theyve been diligently trying to pay off.
Buddy has a crush on a girl.
Hes obsessed with the moon landing.
He discovers movies and theater.
When mom and dad discuss leaving Belfast, he screams that he doesnt want to go.
It is his home, after all.
But Branagh wisely gives the movie the quality of a childhood memory, of stolen moments and eavesdropped conversations.
As a director, he has always been an underrated stylist.
Or at least its the return of a version of him.
Branagh isnt so stentorian this time around.
Hell still deliver the off-kilter camera angles and the long takes, but he also keeps things bouncing along.
When things do slow down inBelfast, its usually to let the actors breathe.
Some will surely find this general approach lacking in context or dramatic weight.
Sometimes, his light touch can work against the film.
But the movie overall is so winning that even such overcorrections feel like minor problems.
There is something genuinely bold in giving a movie about Belfast in 1969 the warm glow of the everyday.
It reminds us that life goes on.
