Steve McQueen’s latest film, WW2 epic Blitz, has been garnering Oscars buzz for some time – and for good reason. Saoirse Ronan shines as Rita, a mother who must wrench out her own heart by evacuating her young son George from London to ensure his safety. The real trouble begins, though, when George escapes by jumping off the train out of the city, and is intent on returning to his family.
The film sees Saoirse play a mother for the first time, a poignant connection created between herself and on-screen son Elliot Heffernan, particularly as he is a similar age to the age she was when she started out in the entertainment industry. There’s a protectiveness and empathy between them that seems to transcend the wartime story their mother-and-son plotline takes place in.
©Apple TV/Courtesy Everett Collection
But Blitz is much more than a story of mother and son – it is also one that champions the activism and empowerment women found during wartime. Much like Kate Winslet’s Lee biopic – which explored the incredible life story of model-turned-WW2-photographer Lee Miller, it honours the crucial role women took in keeping the country going while the majority of men went off to fight in the war, and the battles they fought back home for better conditions and treatment.
Pretty early on, we see Rita and her friends working in a munitions factory, rallying together against the way they are treated in the workplace by their patronising (male) boss. The bond of sisterhood runs strong, though, as during a beautiful moment where Rita sings on a BBC radio programme to help lift morale, her and her friends rebel against the rules and use the public platform and chance to use their voices to campaign live on radio for tube stations to be used as shelters.
