Belfast

Sunday night, Sharon and I watched Belfast. We are continuing our quest to watch movies that might recieve Oscar nominations. Belfast currently has the second best odds on the Goldderby site to win the Best Picture Oscar.

Belfast was named one of the best films of 2021 by the National Board of Review. It tied with The Power of the Dog for a leading seven nominations at the 79th Golden Globe Awards, including Best Motion Picture – Drama.

The film is a coming of age comedy-drama film written and directed by Kenneth Branagh. The film stars Caitríona Balfe, Judi Dench, Jamie Dornan, Ciarán Hinds, Colin Morgan, and newcomer Jude Hill.

The story centers on a young boy's childhood amidst the tumult of Belfast, Northern Ireland, in the 1960s. The director Branagh described it as his "most personal film."

I was a little underwhelmed by the film. Unless you are very familar with the politics of Northern Ireland in the 1960s, it is a little confusing to figure out the different sides of the conflict. Told large from a child point of view, maybe that is part of the point. Sharon liked it even less. Based on some feedback from Sharon's brother Tom, we watched the film with subtitles. This was interesting because their was a lot of background dialogue that we would never have picked up. Although it wouldn't surprise me to see it nominated, I don't think that Belfast is goiing to win the Best Picture Oscar.