5 October 2024

Film Review – I Am Belfast (2016)

I_AM_BELFAST

This is an extraordinary film, I Am Belfast. It manages to be moving, rich with imagery, thoughtful and as lyrical as a poem flowing like a river all at the same time, if you get me. Oh, do I hear the sound of loud groaning and people (possibly male people?) scrolling down to find something a bit more action-y? You bet I do, haha. My ears are finely attuned to that kind of thing.

Okay, so this film might not suit anyone who wants to see car chases, spectacularly sexy explosions or superheroes knocking seven bells out of each other, but it’s a superb piece of film-making nonetheless from Northern Ireland’s celebrated director, Mark Cousins. All you action heroes can slink away, you’re excused for now, but I expect you all back here for the review of BATMAN VS. SUPERMAN...!

I AM BELFAST starts when Mark Cousins, or at least his voice (we don’t see him as such), meets an elderly woman who claims to actually be Belfast, an ancient city that’s seen its fair share of pain and suffering in its time. The woman, stylishly-dressed in her long coat and shawl and snazzy high-heeled boots and with her long grey-blonde hair elegantly pinned up, appears to be telling the truth.

She takes Mark and the viewer on a leisurely ramble around Belfast, a city I’ve only visited once for a bit of shopping but have always wanted to see again. We’re treated to the sight of the most stunning images as the pair unhurriedly stroll around the city. Helena’s confident, quirky narrative fills our ears. Have you ever seen upside-down daffodils…? You will in this film.

Flowers, trees, lakes, gardens, buildings and parades of shops among other things all appear on the screen before us. They’re all beautifully-photographed and wouldn’t be out of place hanging in an exhibition somewhere. The woman shows us the vivid colours of some of the buildings and wonders out loud what blind people see. She references two of Alfred Hitchcock’s greatest films, MARNIE and THE BIRDS, which gave me rather a delicious frisson.

Natives of Belfast would love watching this film and being able to say: ‘Oh, I know this street or that takeaway or this housing estate or that pub!’ Irish people in general would all enjoy the images. Let’s face it, a parade of shops with a pub, a hairdressers’, a credit union and a pub in it up in Belfast looks much the same as any parade of shops down here in dear old Dublin…!

The woman who calls herself ‘Belfast’ shows us the Eleanor Roosevelt mural on a wall which quotes the great lady herself: ‘Universal human rights begin in small places.’ Footage of people from Belfast long ago are intermingled with the shots of the Belfast of today. Our guide shows us JCBs (‘yellow dinosaurs’) at work and the cranes rising high into the sky and she asks if we’ve inadvertently wandered into ‘Jurassic Park…!’ You can certainly see what she means.

We see the sun setting magnificently over a housing estate and a rainbow arc-ing gracefully over the mountains. It’s like looking at paintings hung in a gallery. Belfast is photographed both shrouded in the morning mist and coloured in the pinks-and-blues of twilight. It’s just breathtaking to witness.

Images of the TITANIC, which of course was built in Belfast (‘It was fine when it left here…!’), are used to reference ‘the Troubles,’ the darkest period in Belfast’s history. ‘Was it then that we hit the iceberg?’ she murmurs. Footage of men with guns patrolling near kiddies and old people is shown.

Our guide tells stories about ‘the Troubles’ in such a way that I’ll never forget them. A particularly vivid word here or a reference there and you’ve got a picture that will stay with you for life.

Three young soldiers executed on a grassy hill where Charles Dickens once strolled on a visit to Ireland. A pub-owner who’d lost half his family in a Christmas bombing appealing on television for forgiveness for the bombers. That’s a level of forgiveness most of us would find it hard to aspire to. Seagulls eating the dismembered body parts of the victms of a summer bombing and the song ‘Bits And Pieces’ by pop group THE DAVE CLARK FIVE being sung by certain parties as the coffins containing the body parts were lowered into their graves.

Countless people emigrated from Belfast during these terrible years. But there’s hope- the
abiding message of the film- in even the grimmest of situations and life began to return to the city once the ceasefires began and the military activities wound down. Emigrants returned. It was safe to put up glass buildings again…! I had to smile at that bit, although I immediately felt guilty for doing so.

We see that there are walls everywhere, though, a legacy of ‘the Troubles.’ Walls to keep people apart and separate. Walls made from mesh layered upon iron layered upon brick. We see houses with iron railings on the windows. ‘The Troubles’ may be over, but they’re surely not forgotten. Check out where the ‘Catholic kerb’ ends and the ‘Protestant kerb’ begins. It’s almost surreal to watch if you haven’t lived through it.

We meet Rosie and Maude, a couple of game old gals who never dug the Beatles and one of whom is surprisingly foul-mouthed for an old girl. We are shown a gorgeous mural featuring the Giant’s Causeway, the TITANIC and cranes rising out of the water, just as an elderly couple are walking by on their way home from the shops or maybe the doctor’s surgery. He’s using a walking stick and carrying a plastic bag. This was my favourite image from the film because it’s so real. This couple represents practically every elderly couple ever and I like that. We’ll all be them someday.

What do Belfast and THE CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON have in common? Who is ‘The Last Bigot’ and where exactly is he going? Who is Betty and why does her plight tug on the heartstrings of a lovely Belfast bus-driver? You’ll have to watch the film to find out, folks.

This excellent and thought-provoking piece of cinema will be released by the British Film Institute in selected cinemas across the UK and on BFI player from the 8th April 2016. There will be a DVD/Blu-ray release on the 20th June so don’t despair if you can’t catch it on the big screen.

You should definitely try to catch it somewhere, though. It’s too good to miss. It doesn’t matter one whit if you’re not from Belfast. Sure, I’m from Dublin myself. Cities are cities and people are people the world over and, after all, ‘we all have our icebergs…’

Sandra Harris

This review was original posted at our sister site, Cinehouse
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY OF SANDRA HARRIS.
Sandra Harris is a Dublin-based novelist, film blogger and movie reviewer. She has studied Creative Writing and Film-Making. She has published a number of e-books on the following topics: horror film reviews, multi-genre film reviews, womens’ fiction, erotic fiction, erotic horror fiction and erotic poetry. Several new books are currently in the pipeline. You can browse or buy any of Sandra’s books by following the link below straight to her Amazon Author Page: Amazon | Facebook | Sandra First Rule Of Film | Sexy Sandie Blog | Serena Harker Blog | Twitter | Email

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