You know that feeling of anticipation you get at the start of a film waiting silently, and eagerly, to be carried away with a captivating dramatic experience? That's how I felt watching Blitz, the historic war drama currently available on Apple TV+. And the only way I could have enjoyed Blitz is if I were heavily blitzed...with alcohol.
Saoirse Ronan (Little Women, 2019) plays an emotionally torn mother of an elementary-school-aged child named George, and she is forced to say goodbye to George so he can be transported out of London in 1940 with numerous other children to remove them from the violence of WWII. Of course George is an extra-precocious child, so he escapes from his train ride in the English countryside and travels back to London to reunite with his mother. On this journey, the plucky boy meets various British people who help him along his way, including other runaway kids and a quiet soldier. This fictional story is set against the infamous German bombing attack on London known as the Blitz (which got its name from the German word 'blitzkrieg' which translates to English as 'lightning war').
Being a domestically-focused PG-13 drama on the tragedies of WWII, you would think Blitz would be gritty, heavy, and perceptive. But it isn't any of those words. Focusing on the brave little boy's trek home in the midst of real danger gives this film a fairytale vibe like Pinnochio or Little Red Riding Hood. This vibe gets even stronger when the little boy meets a gang of underground robbers sneaking into bombed buildings to steal jewelry and cash from dead bodies. When that twist happened, I thought, "Is this director trying to give a nod to Oliver Twist?! What is going on?!"
Blitz tries to be a somber portrait of resilience in wartime, but its portrait is shown through such a rosy lens I started thinking this was produced by a room of executives for the Hallmark Movie Channel. Director and screenwriter Steve McQueen has given us terrific films in the past that are known for being emotionally raw and deeply personal like Hunger (2008), 12 Years a Slave (2013), and the Small Axe miniseries of five films from 2020. Blitz doesn't feel raw enough to be memorable, and it doesn't feel focused enough to be personal. Homesick flashbacks and a gratuitous musical number function well to show viewers a slice of life in Britain from the 1930s and 40s, but they don't serve to move the story along. At the ending, this film's final message is: "You know the best way for childhood innocence to survive a war? Have a living parent who likes you!"
The casting of this film is one good thing helping it to stand out. Including people of color and people of different religious backgrounds is good, because it shows a more diverse view of history (particularly thoughtful since almost all WWII films of the past only show white people). So the racial and religious inclusion is good, but that's the only good thing here. Hopefully Steve McQueen will return to reality on his next film without any maudlin or cloying tropes.
