Blitz

With a gripping visual prelude, Oscar-winning filmmaker Steve McQueen (12 Years a Slave) brilliantly captures the on-the-ground drama of World War II London during the Blitz. As the bombardments escalate, young mother Rita (Saoirse Ronan) makes the painful decision to evacuate her nine-year-old son, George (Elliott Heffernan making an indelible screen debut), to the English countryside for safety. Only the lad will have none of that, jumping off the train to find his way back home and reunite with his mum and beloved piano-playing granddad, Gerald (musician Paul Weller). In an adventure increasingly fraught and filled with danger, he navigates the war-torn streets and Underground tunnels of London—complete with characters reminiscent of Charles Dickens’s stories. Rita, meanwhile, frantically searches for her wayward child. With an impeccable sense of time, place, and humanity, McQueen turns his attention to the perils everyday British civilians faced in the chaos and violence of the war with stunning, unforgettable results.