Kenneth Branagh says that when he was a child in Belfast, Ireland, life was fun, silly, and carefree, just like a perfect childhood should be. But everything changed on August 15, 1969. The youngster was in his old neighbourhood when he thought he heard a multitude of honey bees coming toward him. Instead, a large group of people fought in the streets.
Protestant Loyalists and Catholic Nationalists:
It wasn’t just a normal commotion. Tensions between Protestant loyalists and Catholic nationalists had been rising for a long time, and they had erupted into violence that no one could have imagined. This was especially traumatic for an eight-year-old boy.
“They took the paving stones,” Kenneth Branagh told the NPR show here and Now on WBUR. “A few hours later, those paving stones turned into barricades, and the world turned upside down… My life was definitely never the same again.”
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Three Decades of Sectarian Violence:
What started then led to three decades of sectarian violence, called “the Troubles,” from the late 1960s to the late 1990s. Nearly 3,600 people died, and more than 30,000 were hurt during this time. Northern Ireland was under British rule, and Ireland was trying to get it back. Protestant unionists and loyalists fought against this, while Catholic nationalists wanted Ireland to be one country again.
Climacteric in his Life:
As a young man, Kenneth Branagh grew up in the middle of all this political unrest. It was a climacteric in his life that he now shows in his movie Belfast.
When Branagh was a kid, his Neighborhood was very Close:
Before the Troubles, it would be an understatement to say that people in Belfast were close. Kenneth Branagh said it best when he told WBUR that if a mother wanted her child to come home for tea, she would just yell the child’s name. This would start a chain reaction in which neighbours would also yell the child’s name until the child came home.
Theatre on Shore Road:
“My childhood in Belfast was characterized by freedom,” he told the BBC in 2018. “This city, which was big when I was a child, always felt like a village. It didn’t seem possible to get lost. Everyone either knew you or knew someone who did.”
Even though he had a lot of friends and family, his early life was simple in every other way. He told Irish News, “My dad was a carpenter, and my mom worked in a chip shop. We didn’t have much money, and I was interested in the arts even then.” As a child, he went to the old Grove Theatre on Shore Road to see shows like “A Christmas Carol” and learn about the magic of the theatre.
When the Riots Started, Everything About his Life Changed:
On the day of the riots, everyone’s priorities changed a lot. Branagh told The New York Times, “That break was the most important thing in my life.” “I had the feeling that I knew who I was and was at peace before that crowd came down the street. From that point on, many different identities and masks were made… From that point on, people were more cautious and couldn’t deal with things the way they had before.”
His Family Moved to England to Start Over:
Even though they were open-minded, the Branaghs chose to move to England when Kenneth was only nine years of age. They arrived in a town around 40 miles west of London, where he told The Washington Post he worked to “smooth out” his Irish accent.
The big move was all action and not much feeling, which may have been a way to hide how sad they were to leave a place and way of life they loved but that no longer survived in the way they knew it.
Good Habit:
Even the idea behind it was hard for him to understand since Kenneth Branagh had always been taught to accept everyone the same way, no matter what they believed or how they voted. “My father always told me that it didn’t matter where people came from, what they were, or what they did as long as they were honest, decent, and true,” Kenneth Branagh said. “I feel that way, no matter how rosy it sounds.”
Catholic Neighbors were being Picked on:
WBUR said that the young boy had noticed that his Catholic neighbours were being picked on, but he didn’t understand why they were suddenly gone. The Kenneth Branagh did, in a way, fall to one side. “We were always nominally Protestant because that’s where we came from and that’s the church we went to,” Kenneth Branagh told The New York Times. “But my father was really an independent.” “He encouraged people to think for themselves.”
Sacrifice was Worth:
“What did happen is that the family as a whole and each person kind of shut down and turned in on themselves,” Branagh told The New York Times. “Perhaps they were afraid to talk about it. I think my family had to think that the sacrifice was worth it, and we never talked about how bad of a solution it was or if it was the right choice. But it must have been going on quite a bit below the surface.”
Branagh has not Forgotten Where He Came From:
Even though he spent the rest of his growing-up years in England, that love for his home town never went away, even when bad things happened there. According to the BBC, Kenneth Branagh said, “I’m proud to say that you can take the boy out of Belfast, but you can’t take Belfast out of the boy.”
Freedom of Belfast:
In 2018, the city gave him an award called “Freedom of Belfast”. At the ceremony, Kenneth Branagh wrote in the program what he thought made the city great. “You could see and feel the Specifications of where you lived, and you knew exactly who you were: Kenneth Branagh , working-class, and proud,” Kenneth Branagh wrote. “It is a great honour to come home and be given the freedom that represents my time in the city.”
