Blitz ★★★½

BRITISH director Steve McQueen has only made six feature films in 16 years.

While I can’t vouch for 2023’s Occupied City, all the others – Hunger, Shame, 12 Years a Slave, Widows and now Blitz – are well worth seeing.

As the name suggests, Blitz is set in London during World War II when the city was being targeted by German bombing raids.

In the grand tradition of classic wartime stories, McQueen’s film depicts the bravery and resilience of average people forced to survive in extraordinary circumstances.

The film has two main characters.

Fresh from her terrific performance in The Outrun, Saorsie Ronan plays single mother Rita who works in a munitions factory to help ends meet while doing her bit for the country’s war effort.

She and her young son George (Elliott Heffernan) live with her father Gerald, played by former The Jam lead singer Paul Weller.

With the devastation of London becoming increasingly severe, Rita joins many other parents in sending George off to safety in the country. But the strong-willed George is having none of this and jumps off the train.

Miles from home with little food and no idea where he is going, except to follow the train line back, George befriends other homeless kids before getting back to the city where he faces further dangers at the hands of unscrupulous looters. At the same time Rita struggles to find her lost son while trying to keep her family home together.

As young George, Heffernan gives one of those brilliant child acting performances that captivates the audience. Ronan is once again excellent and there’s a typical scene-stealing role for Stephen Graham.

Technically it’s a faultless film with stunning recreations of the blitzkrieg impacts on the city and its working-class neighbourhoods.  Yorick Le Saux’s cinematography and Hans Zimmer’s music score are integral to the drama.

Watched on Apple TV.