The Troubles were unavoidable for anyone who came of age in Ireland or Northern Ireland from the late 1960s through the late ’90s.
Just ask Caitriona Balfe, one of the stars of “Belfast,” the new semi-autobiographical film from writer-director Kenneth Branagh that chronicles one family’s desperate efforts to maintain a semblance of normalcy at the height of the conflict. The film comes out in theaters Friday.
Balfe grew up in Ireland and would regularly cross through military checkpoints at the border to go on shopping excursions with her family in Northern Ireland, where violence was common between mostly Catholic nationalists and mostly Protestant unionists. Her father was a sergeant for Garda, Ireland’s national police service, and was stationed near the border.
She “viscerally remembers” the frequency of bombings during The Troubles, especially one in the Northern Irish town of Enniskillen in the late 1980s.
“Even though I wasn’t in it, it was definitely part of the fabric of my life and had an effect,” Balfe told the Post-Gazette. “You can’t grow up in those times in that region without it being an important presence in your life. ... Wrapping your head around that as a kid, of why people are bombing places and killing people down the road, it shapes your understanding of life and of the world.”
Most folks who are familiar with Balfe’s acting know her from the Starz historical fantasy series “Outlander.” In “Belfast,” she plays Ma, the matriarch of a pacifist Protestant family in late ’60s Belfast. The story is told from the perspective of her son, Buddy (Jude Hill), whose family also includes his father (Jamie Dornan), brother (Lewis McAskie), grandmother (Judi Dench) and grandfather (Ciaran Hinds).
Balfe wanted to find a film she could work on in her native Ireland, and Branagh’s script for “Belfast” sold her pretty quickly on the project.
“Quite often, when you get a script about the north, it has really only focused on the ideology or romanticizing the violence or in some way trying to justify the violence,” she said. “This was the first time I had read a script that focused on the people and their heart, resilience and humor. Talk about dying to be able to play something! I was just like, ‘Please, this would be such a privilege and a dream to be able to play this.’”
In the film, Balfe displays a wide range of emotions as the world around her seems to be falling apart, sometimes literally. The exuberance and exasperation she expresses in equal measure “are all things I understand,” and she drew from the tough love she received from her mother while crafting her performance.
One of the elements that makes “Belfast” so affecting is how authentic the family feels. Balfe said that early on in the production, Branagh had her, Dornan, Dench and Hinds sit in a room for three hours while he grilled them on how they and their parents would’ve reacted to certain things.
“I learnt so much about Judi, Jamie and Ciaran in a very personal way, and likewise they learned about me,” she said. “I don’t think you could’ve done anything better to unite and bond people. ... It completely stripped away any of my fears or anxieties about not being good enough or not having enough experience. You just feel very connected to these people.”
As “Belfast” hits theaters this week, Balfe is hoping the “loss of innocence” and familial bonds it depicts resonate with audiences worldwide.
All Balfe’s hard work may pay off with her first Academy Award nomination. Awards prediction site GoldDerby says her performance is one of the three most likely to earn a supporting actress Oscar nomination. Balfe is aware of that chatter and admits that while receiving Academy love would be “really cool,” it’s also “so arbitrary and far away that I think it’s dangerous to start thinking about it too much.”
Even if the academy overlooks her turn in “Belfast,” she’ll still have an extremely passionate fan base steadfastly invested in her career successes.
“I sometimes feel like I have a gang of stage moms who are heckling in a very lovely way from the sidelines,” she joked. “It’s a very strange thing but a very lovely thing. It’ really endearing, and they are the loveliest people.”
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