The 15th August 1969 is a date which is firmly imprinted upon my memory for a variety of reasons. It was my eighth birthday and I had enjoyed a happy day out with my family in the lovely lakelands of County Fermanagh. On our return home that evening, we were greeted with images on the television of Bombay Street in Belfast up in flames.
This was one of the major incidents in the early days of what became known as “The Troubles” and these were to have a profound effect on our lives for the next thirty years.
Sir Kenneth Branagh’s new film (simply entitled “Belfast”)begins on the date in question and is based on real life events. The film captures brilliantly the experiences of a Protestant family in a working class area of the city who are trying to come to terms with the growing tension and violence around them. Sir Kenneth and I are of a similar vintage and the film reflects life in his native North Belfast at the time; paralleled in my own upbringing in the neighbouring town of Carrickfergus.
During the film, I went through a variety of emotions, ranging from feeling sad at the memories of the years of violence to laughing out loud at the typically down to earth Belfast humour (which probably had some of my fellow cinema goers scratching their heads in confusion, as our Northern Irish humour has a character all of its own).
All in all, this is a fascinating film which brought back a lot of memories for me and will also be helpful to anyone who wants to see something of what it was like to live in the Belfast of the late 1960’s.
It is well cast and the interaction among the different generations of the main family and their neighbours makes for interesting viewing. I can certainly recommend it as a film to watch.
