Belfast (2021)

Kenneth Branagh was born in Belfast and lived in a neighborhood much like the one depicted in this film. His family emigrated to England when he was a boy to escape the surging violence and this is a story very much like his own. It is a story beautifully told and acted, all of it seen through the eyes of a nine year old boy, filmed in black and white, wtih a score written by Van Morrison. The actors are largely Irish, and the depiction of escalating violence that evolves along the lines of religion, but at heart it is aided and abetted by bullies who are looking for a cause. The result is to fracture people into one of two sides, and then wreck havoc on them all. The movie is lovingly rendered, and so amidst the senselessness of it all, there is a sweetness, a love song for a place that was worth saving, with the kids from all different backgrounds playing in the streets and in each other's yards, getting into trouble, sometimes serious trouble, but nothing like what followed. Everyone should watch this, regardless of your politics, and see if we are in fact perpetuating what is depicted here, judging people based on something that is one dimensional, and whether it has to be that way.