By Student Journalists, Ava Mclellan-Morgan and Ffion Foster
In October, Film Studies and English students visited the BFI London Film Festival. This featured the premiere of the new movie, Blitz. This was about the life of Londoners during the continuous bombings of WW2, inflicted by the Germans.
Upon arrival after our four-hour coach trip, students had time to explore the area of Southbank local to the film festival. Activities along the bank ranged from the Southbank National Theatre to a lively food market. The essence of the arts was captured in the endless rows of vintage books as well as artist prints set out in the open stalls of the bank. The magnificent view of Big Ben and the London Eye across the River Thames gave students the London experience without having to cram into the bleak underground rails. After we grabbed some lunch, it was 2:30 pm and time to head to the British Film Institute.
We were hosted in an impressive cinema with hundreds of people enjoying the movie. It only confirmed that the way you watch a movie can completely change its impact. The surround sound only made what was an already intense movie, jaw-dropping. Following the movie premiere, students were given further free time to take in the area and its opportunities. And even after a lengthy and tiring day, the exuberance could still be found in the atmosphere of the coach on the way home.
he film had an elevated level of intensity throughout. Especially the introductory scene that swiftly escalatedfrom serenity to chaos. The film covered the topics of war, grief, racism, and women’s rights. The emotion presented through the characters was heartbreaking, the performances mirrored the troubling society of 1940 London, making is atmospherically very disturbing. The sounds of the film were captivating, they truly reached the audience through their presentation of pain and despair. Nevertheless, we only viewed one story. The panning out scene towards the end stood for the extent of damage to other people’s lives, not just the story we saw, and how war has no true victors. There were multiple historical ties of racism and women’s rights alongside the Blitz, which was an unexpected but valued focus as it highlights the importance of recognising other impactful social issues that were not put on pause, even during such catastrophic events.
Sabrine: “5 stars? Four.” ☆☆☆☆
Mr Beynon: Out of five? Three.” ☆☆☆
Aimee: “I would say I would rate it 4 stars.” ☆☆☆☆
Sabrine: “I just think the way he directed it was so beautiful. Well like, the kid especially. I just wouldn’t imagine a little kid exploring that much because I have a little brother that age. It’s like wow, every scene I’m on my knees…stressing, but in a good way.”
Mr Beynon: “So there were really good bits in it. I thought visually sometimes it was stunning. I thought overall it was a little bit sentimental and a little bit undercooked in terms of the script. I didn’t think the script was brilliant, I didn’t think it served some very good performances.”
Aimee: “I really liked the shots throughout the film, and I thought that it was overall a very moving film.”
Sabrine: I’ve seen his small, short film ‘Small Acts’, which educates people on black British history. So, like, the Mangrove Nine. A lot of his black British films.”
Mr Beynon: “Yeah, ‘Twelve Weeks of Slave’ and I thought it was absolutely superb. I was really, really impressed by that piece of work. He has obviously got some real artistic ability and I’m not sure sometimes the choices that he makes in terms of his projects meet the standards of his artistic vision.”
Aimee: “No, I haven’t! But I’ve heard a lot of great things about him and based on this film I would agree.”
Mr Beynon: “Yeah! That emphasis on visual, artistic sensibilities is certainly there. I just thought with this one, if the script was better, I think they would have had much better pay off from it. I thought as soon as soon as Steven Graham entered the screen the quality just went up. I thought he was absolutely brilliant.”
Sabrine: “I already learnt a lot of the Blitz from primary school. So, everything they knew was already in there. But the most prominent part for me was the black British parts and aspects. So, seeing the young black kid being the main character and like all the racial profiling and the jazz as well which is obviously created by black people.”
Mr Beynon: “Something that I didn’t know was the debate that they had about the tube stations. I always thought that the tube stations were open for everybody, and I didn’t realise that there was this debate going on about whether the tube stations were open. So that was a bit of an eye opener.”
Aimee: “I was surprised to see that people weren’t allowed into the underground to take cover, and how many people were affected. It made me feel a lot for the people that went through this, especially when the film showed not only people suffering from the blitz, but POC facing prejudice in terrible ways.”
Sabrine: “My favourite scene? I liked the stuff that amused me. So, even though it was a very distressing scene it was the part where…I have two actually! One happy one, one sad one. When he saved the London Bridge Station, when he had to go under, and I thought he passed away! And then, also, when he went into his dream, and he saw the people there who died. So, Ife and Tommy in the station. I also thought he passed away then!”
Aimee: “My favourite scene was when George and his mother Rita reunited at the end, and the camera zoomed out to show all of the surrounding damaged houses, which showed the bigger picture of how many people and families in just that town that were suffering similarly.”
Without a doubt, this film is definitely worth seeing especially those who have a keen interest in historical events.
