Blitz

A young boy runs the gauntlet through a war-torn London in director Steve McQueen's action-fueled and heartfelt thriller.

In World War II London, with a large-scale bombing campaign underway, nine-year-old George is evacuated to the countryside by his single mother, Rita. Angry at being sent away, a defiant George embarks on a dangerous journey back to his war-ravaged home as Rita begins her own journey in search of him.

Curator's Note

In a follow-up to his epic and episodic wartime documentary Occupied City, director Steve McQueen returns with a riveting Apple Original Film that explores the blitz-bombing campaign in London during World War II.

In some ways, the two films make an unofficial diptych, albeit with two radically different approaches, set on opposite sides of the North Sea and making use of vastly different genres.

Where Occupied City lulls its audience into passive complicity, Blitz riles its audience up with creative dexterity that crafts a beautiful domesticity with one hand and elaborate action sequences with the other.

Blitz fittingly premiered at the BFI London Film Festival.

– Reece Goodwin, Curator (Film & TV)