review

Kenneth Branagh's biopic, Belfast, released in January 2022 to much applause. But for many Belfast natives, it fell flat. The film opens like an on-screen city break brochure, with all the modern visual icons, before fading to black and white and scenes of a typical Belfast street in 1969. Here we are introduced to a nine year-old Kenneth Branagh, "Buddy", as he naively navigates Belfast at the outbreak of the 30-year conflict which became known as "the Troubles".