Steve McQueen's World War II Film 'Blitz' to Stream on Apple TV+ This November
Saoirse Ronan in "Blitz"
(Photo: Apple TV+)
Apple TV+ has grown into a must-watch destination for prestige television, boasting critically acclaimed comedies (Ted Lasso), dramas (Slow Horses), thrillers (Hijack), and limited series (Manhunt). But with the success of CODA, the streamer has turned its attention to feature films, backing buzzy, awards season fare like Ridley Scott's Napoleon and Martin Scorcese's Killers of the Flower Moon. Blitz will be the next to join that list, a film that hails from Academy and BAFTA Award-winning director Steve McQueen (Small Axe). The drama aims to tell a different World War II story, one focused less on the battlefield and more on the home front.
As the title implies, the film takes place during the period of heavy German aerial bombing during the war and centers on the wave of refugees who left their homes for supposed safety outside the United Kingdom's crowded urban centers. More than three million people, most of whom were schoolchildren, were evacuated from British cities as part of what came to be known as "Operation Pied Piper." This campaign was meant to keep the youngest and most vulnerable British citizens out of the way of the German bombing raids while their parents continued to work and contribute to the war efforts. But for many of these refugee children, being away from home was no picnic, and the experience was a profoundly traumatizing one.
Blitz follows the story of George, a nine-year-old boy in London whose mother, Rita, sends him to the countryside for safety. But George, defiant and determined to return home to his mom and grandfather Gerald in East London, embarks on an adventure, only to find himself in immense peril while a distraught Rita searches for her missing son. The film stars Oscar-nominated actress Saoirse Ronan (Mary Queen of Scots) as Rita, with newcomer Elliott Heffernan as George and 66-year-old musician Paul Weller, who makes his acting debut as the boy's grandfather, Gerald.
Elliott Heffernan in "Blitz"
(Photo: Apple TV+)
Written and directed by McQueen, the film's ensemble cast also includes Kathy Burke (School of Roars), Benjamin Clementine (Dune: Part One), Stephen Graham (Bodies), Harris Dickinson (A Murder at the End of the World), Leigh Gill (Ronja the Robber's Daughter), Mica Ricketts (Here We Go), CJ Beckford (Riches), Alex Jennings (Mr Bates vs. The Post Office), Joshua McGuire (The Gentlemen), Hayley Squires (Great Expectations), Erin Kellyman (The Green Knight) and Sally Messham (The Hunt for Raoul Moat).
The film has been selected to open the London Film Festival this October. All of McQueen's feature films — Hunger, Shame, 12 Years a Slave, Lovers Rock, and Occupied City — have screened at the festival, and both 2018's Widows and 2020's Mangrove were opening-night films.
“Blitz is a movie about Londoners," McQueen said. "It honors the spirit of what and how Londoners endured during the blitz, but also explores the true representation of people in London, while at its core is the story of a working-class family desperate to be reunited during times of war."
Blitz will have a limited theatrical release beginning Friday, November 1, 2024, before its streaming premiere on Apple TV+ on November 22.
