With a filmography full of major and impactful directorial efforts, Steve McQueen takes on the London perspective of World War II in his latest film, Blitz.

The Apple Studios film stars Saoirse Ronan and young newcomer Elliott Heffernan as a mother and son duo who find themselves in the middle of a series of events during the blitzkrieg of London.

What is ‘Blitz’ about?

Blitz focuses on a mother and son in London who are impacted by The Blitz during World War II. Rita (Ronan) and her son George (Heffernan) live with her father, Gerald (Paul Weller). With the education department able to send children away to the countryside, Rita, who works at a weapons-making factory, sends George away so that he can be safe– although she is heartbroken for having to do this.

However, George just wants to be with his family, and resents Rita for sending him off. George does not tell his mother goodbye and tells her “I hate you,” and he regrets how they left things. When he boards a train headed for the countryside, he jumps off at the first chance he gets and makes an attempt to head back to London. He ends up on a journey meeting several people who will help him, and others who wish him harm, as he takes this incredible journey to get home.

These people include a policeman named Ife (Benjamin Clementine), who protects and befriends George, and he also helps him reconcile with his identity as a biracial Black boy. However, after Ife meets a heroic yet tragic end, George also inadvertently gets tied up with a gang who threatens to kill him if he does not help them steal valuables out of bombed buildings.

What Steve McQueen says about ‘Blitz’ and the importance of George being Black

McQueen says that the film coming out at a timely moment with a number of global conflicts happening should strike a chord with audiences.

“I feel useful,” McQueen said of directing the film in a recent interview with Blavity’s Shadow and Act. “I think as an artist, sometimes it happens where you feel useful. Seeing war through Charles’ eyes should be very sobering for us all. We’re meant to be laying out a landscape, which is a better one than we were brought into, for the next generation. So [for] the audience [to be] coming to this film at this time, it should be quite sobering, I hope.”

The director also says he saw the character of George as a way in for him to make a story about The Blitz.

“I was wanting to make a movie about The Blitz, but I always wanted an ‘in,'” he said. “I was doing research on Small Axe and I came across this image. And as soon as I saw the image of a beautiful, sweet, little, Black boy at a railway station and ready to be evacuated, I just wanted to embrace him. I wanted to protect him. I wanted to find out what his story was [and] how he came to be. So from that moment on, I knew that would be a story about a Black child who had a white mother and a Black father. And I thought [how it was] scary not just because [of] just the war, but obviously where he could have been sent to…what family–what would they make of him? There was something very protective immediately that I had in mind.”

He continued, “But then again I thought, ‘OK, well what would happen? Who is his child? Who will his parents be where we come from?’ So [that] was my starting point, and then from there, sort of weaving my way out. But the most important thing about him, which I thought was interesting for me at least, was self-determination. Often as Black people, we are told who we are. We [are] set on a trajectory. And I love the fact that George defied all of those sort of preexisting situations and he changed his narrative. The fact that he jumped, not knowing how he was going to land [or] whatever was going to happen to him, he would take his life into his own hands. It’s very, very, very important.”

Saoirse Ronan and Elliot Heffernan’s casting and bond

Ronan, the multi-time Oscar nominee who is also garnering Oscar buzz for her role in this film, was attached to the project early on.

“Somehow her agent got ahold of the script very early, very clever,” said McQueen. “And then I started to talk to her and she talked about her mother [and how] she had a very close relationship with her. It was so beautiful to hear about this mother-daughter relationship. It was very much, I wouldn’t say sisters, but it was much more a friend relationship as well. I love that. I think when we talked about that, and then I introduced it to Elliot, there was an innate sort of want and need to protect him because she started when [acting] when she was nine, and Elliot was nine [at the time of filming]. So there became this bond. I mean, the most important thing was the love between the two…the sort of bond. Once I knew I had that bond and it was real, and what you saw on screen was real [and a] certain kind of mutual affection, then you had my movie. The movie isn’t about big set pieces, it’s about love.”

How does ‘Blitz’ end?

At the end of the film, George finally makes it home after helping people trapped in the underground station get out after it flooded. A woman takes him home and recognizes him as the missing child that people have been looking for. She promises to take him home and offers him food. However, When police arrive at the house since the woman reported him missing, George escapes and ends up running home.

This can be interpreted in a lot of ways. George likely would have needed authorities to escort him home as his neighborhood had been bombed, which is why the authorities were there. Still, George likely ran from the police due to all that he had been through so far.

He goes to his house and finds his neighborhood pretty much decimated and his grandfather dead under the rubble at their once-standing house. Devastated, he soon hears Rita’s voice behind him and she is safe and they reunite and embrace.