4ABC and Top League students watching Belfast
BHAK Korneuburg`s fourth grade students and their English teachers went to the Votiv cinema in Vienna on Friday, 18 March to watch Belfast, which received seven nominations at the Academy Awards.
The film, directed by Kenneth Branagh, is a coming-of-age memoir which is told through the eyes of nine-year-old Buddy (Jude Hill). It plays during the closing months of 1969, when the conflict between Catholics and Protestants has just begun. With his head spinning, Buddy tries to make sense of how the safety of his world with Ma (Caitríona Balfe), Pa (Jamie Dornan), brother Will (Lewis McAskie), and Nanny (Judi Dench) and Pop (Ciarán Hinds) is threatened by the toxicity that has been unleashed in the streets around him. The fear is there from the opening scene, but so too are the love and fun. Pretty soon helicopters are circling overhead, British soldiers are patrolling the block, and barricades of barbed wire, rubble and burned-out cars have been erected at the end of the street. The answer to the question, whether the family should leave Belfast for England or stay, can only be found out when watching this bittersweet portrait of a childhood at the movies.
Quote from the movie:
Ma: How could I leave Belfast?
Auntie Violet: I wouldn`t worry about it. The Irish were born for leaving. Otherwise, the rest of the world would have no pubs.
