5 Things You Didn’t Know About Kenneth Branagh’s Film ‘Belfast’
Kenneth Branagh wrote and directed Belfast, a film based on his childhood in Northern Ireland. Image courtesy of Instagram.
Kenneth Branagh Belfast Q&A at the Aero Theatre.
Kenneth Branagh poses outside the Aero Theater in Santa Monica, California. Image courtesy of Instagram.
The American Cinematheque recently hosted a tribute to legendary filmmaker Kenneth Branagh. The tribute featured screenings of four films that are featured in his latest film Belfast, a semi-autobiographical love letter to his hometown, and culminated in a Belfast screening followed by a Q&A with writer and director Kenneth Branagh.
Kenneth Branagh American Cinematheque interview at the Aero Theater in Santa Monica, CA. Image courtesy of Edelia Weston.
Belfast tells the story of a nine-year-old boy whose life is turned upside down when rioting breaks out on his street between the Protestants and the Catholics in 1969. Though the film is placed in a time of violence and uncertainty, the tone is as light-hearted and lovable as the adorable protagonist Buddy. (You can read our full Belfast review here). The film has received seven Academy Awards nominations including Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Directing. Here are five facts that we learned about Belfast from the writer and director Kenneth Branagh.
The Belfast screenplay was 50 years in the making
When Kenneth Branagh was asked “how long did it take you to write the script?”, he replied “8 weeks and 50 years”.
The screenplay for Belfast was written during the beginning of the pandemic. Like many of us during lockdown, Branagh was faced with a desire to understand who he is and the time to process suppressed memories. In a fit of creative fervor, Branagh spent hours in his garden shed writing down childhood memories on notebook cards.
“The goal was to be as sort of unimpeded by anything other really than my own creative instinct.”
These memories were soon fashioned into scenes, and in a mere eight weeks, the screenplay for Belfast was written.
Belfast is a pandemic baby
When asked “What was the catalyst to make you write it (Belfast) right now? And go in the shed as you say”, Branagh’s response was incredibly relatable. He was feeling a desire to reach out to friends and family across the world to check in on them, and he received many calls and texts as well, as most of us did. During such a time of uncertainty, many of us wanted to strengthen our bonds of community.
“In those moments, just as I had remembered in Belfast during that time of danger, human contact, community, family, (and) friendship all began to assert a sort of tremendous importance. And I think I was made aware of how valuable it was in this lockdown to be reminded of how blessed I am with friends and family, and people who love me and vice versa. And then it sent me right back to this other time when the nine-year-old me sort of experienced the same thing.”
Triggered by the feeling of uncertainty, Branagh was mentally transported back to his childhood in Northern Ireland and began reliving memories, many of which he had forgotten about. And, as many creative people did, he began writing about it as a creative outlet for his introspection.
Caitriona Balfe and Jamie Dornan are hotter than everyone’s parents
When casting for the film, it was important to Branagh to cast actors with personal connections to Ireland. Most of the cast is Irish including Caitriona Balfe and Jamie Dornan who play characters based on Branagh’s parents. When asked “were your parents really this gorgeous?” he diplomatically responded by saying “Well probably nobody’s parents were quite this gorgeous,”.
However, he describes his parents as having the onscreen chemistry that we see between Balfe and Dornan.
“…I think my parents had a sort of fizzle. I would say a passion between them. Whether you like it or not, the crockery did fly across that kitchen table.”
Kenneth Branagh would never make it as a thief
There is a scene in Belfast where Buddy tries to steal a candy bar from a local shop. But the halfhearted attempt is thwarted by the savvy shop owner who chases Buddy and his cousin out of the shop. All they managed to take was a pack of Turkish delights, which neither of them wanted to eat. The shop owner reports the incident to the police and, more frighteningly, to Buddy’s mother, and Buddy learns his lesson to never shoplift candy again.
Branagh referred to the scene as “the grand larceny involving the Turkish delight” and said that the scene was based on true events which played out almost identically to the movie. Branagh confessed that he’d never make it as a criminal since the shop was a “bad choice of location” just down the street from his house. He was caught almost instantly and stated “(my) mother was much more frightening than the policeman”.
Belfast is “The story of one boy, one family, one street”
The beauty of Belfast is that it really is the story of one little boy’s experience. Although Ireland has faced its fair share of conflict throughout history, through the lens of a nine-year-old the audience experiences a complex environment in a simplified manner.
Branagh stated that while the film “couldn’t be objective truth” because he was telling the story through the lens of his own experience, he did watch hundreds of hours of news coverage from the time. This way he was able to balance real historical events with the creative memory of a boy. He described “the overwhelming weight that you feel when you write anything about Ireland. The history is so complex, it’s so deep,” and cites that as the reason why he had never written anything about Ireland before. But once he shook off the intimidation of writing about his country’s complicated and often controversial past, he gave us a beautiful story that is as relevant today as it was when he experienced those events as a child.
Written by Zianna Weston
