Over eight decades later and filmmakers are still finding innovative ways to unearth different perspectives of World War II. This time, Oscar winning director Steve McQueen tackles the harrowing subject through the eyes of a young child. “[The narrative] makes us refocus our gaze,” McQueen said at Deadline’s Contenders Film: Los Angeles on Saturday speaking about the nuance of adults losing their childlike curiosity.
“I always think of when my daughter was about two years old, and it was autumn, and she showed me a leaf. [The innocence of the gesture] refocuses your gaze on what’s right. At what point did we start to compromise? At what point did we stop listening? At what point did we stop seeing?” Written and directed by McQueen, Apple Original Film’s Blitz follows the journey of George (Elliot Hefferman), a 9-year-old boy in World War II London whose mother Rita (Saoirse Ronan) sends him to safety in the English countryside.
George, defiant and determined to return home to his mom and his grandfather in East London, embarks on an adventure, only to find himself in immense peril, while his distraught mother searches for her missing son. RELATED: The 2025 Oscars: Everything We Know So Far About The Nominations, Ceremony, Date & Host In centering the story around a young boy, McQueen continued, “I wanted to do this in a way in which we could re-see things again, refocus so we can understand all the things [about war] that we’ve become numb to. When I saw thi.