Blitz: Steve McQueen got the idea for the movie from a moving photo of a little boy

For his new film Blitz, available on Apple TV+, Steve McQueen revisits the story of the Blitz through the eyes of a child, 9-year-old George. We follow the epic story of this little boy living in London during the Second World War, who is sent by his mother Rita to seek shelter in the English countryside.

But George, determined to return to his mother and grandfather Gerald in East London, embarks on an extremely dangerous adventure, and Rita, frantic with worry, sets out to find him.

A project fueled by image and long-standing obsession

Inspired by a photograph found while researching his series of small axes, McQueen was deeply moved by the image of a small black boy, alone on a train platform, carrying a massive suitcase at arm’s length. The scene troubled the director, prompting him to imagine, “Who was this kid? What was his story during the Blitz?”, as he confides on the film’s press set.

This image, held at the Imperial War Museum, shows the immense loneliness of this little boy:

In Blitz, George, played by Elliot Heffernan, is a young mixed-race boy who, like thousands of other children, is sent to the countryside to escape the bombings. Defying orders, he returns to London, embarking on a perilous quest to find his mother Rita (Saoirse Ronan) and grandfather Gerald (Paul Weller). Through this odyssey, McQueen explores the resilience of families in the face of the ravages of war.

A personal story and a reflection on society

McQueen, a son of London, has long been interested in the Blitz, a period he describes as founding British identity. This project was reinforced by his work as an official war artist in Iraq in 2003. There he discovered how conflict shapes communities, a reflection he carries out in Blitz: “War brings out the worst and the best in us“, he emphasizes.

The film also deals with the issue of racism in a nation that still struggled with Nazi hate ideology. George, the son of a white mother and a Caribbean immigrant father, discovers prejudice as he searches for his place in a world in ruins. “He sees things as they are“, explains McQueen. This brutal perspective is balanced by the warmth of family bonds and the light of a mother who never stops fighting.

Immersive aesthetics to capture emotions

To convey the intensity of the Blitz, McQueen collaborated with talents such as Hans Zimmer for a soundtrack that combined terror and hope, and Adam Stockhausen to recreate iconic locations such as a bombed subway station. Filming in real or constructed environments, the team sought to recreate the pain and resilience of Londoners. “He lives in a world between life and death, in an uncertain state“, summarizes McQueen.

Focusing on one child’s ordeal, Blitz transcends the war movie genre to tell a universal story of love and survival. A work that, through the innocent eyes of Giorgi, invites us to look the horrors of history in the face and, perhaps, better understand our present.

Blitz is currently available on Apple TV+ and MyCanal.