One notable omission from almost all of ubiquitous ‘best films of the year’ lists is Steve McQueen’s Blitz. This film certainly has not generated the kind of the buzz one might have expected from such a high profile director dealing with such a timeless (at least to we Brits) subject matter.
When it comes to the cinematic treatment of race and identity in the UK, all paths sooner or later lead back to Empire. Although much is made of the cultural ‘revolution’ of Beatlemania and the sixties, the collective trauma of the second world war remains a watershed event for the nation’s self-image. There is an abiding myth that Britain alone defeated the Nazis; that the triumph over fascism came about because of the oratory of Winston Churchill and the songs of Vera Lynn. This is why, almost three quarters of a century after the end of empire, wartime events remain a potent reference point on the question what it means to be British
Despite this, McQueen’s tortuous Occupied City about the aftermath of wartime trauma in Amsterdam in the Netherlands gained more plaudits than the story of a bombed out London, England. Perhaps it was an the error for Blitz to go to streaming (on Apple TV) rather than trying to built momentum in cinemas. Is this the modern equivalent of straight to video releases? Ironically, McQueen was on record as aiming to reach as wide an audience as possible. For the moment at least he seems to have failed.
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The Academy members undoubtedly did the right thing by naming 12 Years A Slave the best picture and, if there was any justice, Steve McQueen would have been awarded an Oscar for best director in place of Alfonso Cuarón. Gravity is a remarkable technical achievement but directing technology is less deserving of a statuette than man management.
