Written and directed by Steve McQueen (12 Years a Slave, Widows), this World War II film does something films about this war rarely do, which is to look beyond the good-versus-evil trope of the Allied Forces versus the Nazis and examine another form of evil—the insidious persistence of racism. In this case, the victim is 9-year-old George (Elliott Heffernan), who’s half black.
It’s a year into the war, and the Germans have laid siege to London through a relentless bombing campaign. Rita (Saoirse Ronan), George’s single mom, works in a munitions factory, desperate to keep her son safe. Like many parents, she loads him onto a train to be transported to the countryside. George doesn’t want to be separated from her, and she’s clearly gutted by having to send him away, but it’s for his own good.
After stewing about it for a while, George decides he isn’t having it, jumps off the train, and makes his way back to London. What follows is a series of Dickensian misadventures as George works his way back to Rita. Meanwhile, when Rita learns George is missing, she searches war-torn London for him. It’s another deeply moving film from a gifted auteur. (120 min.)
—Glen Starkey
This article appears in Dec 5-15, 2024.
