Set in London during World War II, “Blitz” technically Steve McQueen ‘s first war movie. But struggle and survival have long marked the filmmaker’s difficult and torturous work.

Whatever the case — slavery “12 Years a Slave” 1960s-1980s West Indian immigrants’ London “Hatchet” “Shame” hunger strike in Ireland — McQueen is drawn to moments in history not for their dramatic excesses but for how they test the morality of those in and around the struggle. Did they turn a blind eye? Did they put themselves at risk? Do we remember?

“Press” is told largely from the perspective of 9-year-old George (Elliott Heffernan); his single mother, Rita (a tough guy). Saoirse Ronan ) made the painful decision to send him to the countryside with thousands of other schoolchildren fleeing the Blitz.

A year into the war, bombings are already intense, and so is the questionable nature of how some respond to the omnipresent danger and loosening of order. The film opens with a fiery fire in which firefighters grapple with an out-of-control tornado and a group of people run underground to escape the bombers above them. The doors outside the station are locked and nearby police refuse to open the doors. This is an early hint that McQueen’s take on the war will be more complex and brutal than your average World War II drama.

“Blitz” begins properly when Rita drops George off at the train station. The separation is painful (“I hate you,” George says on the platform) because their bond is so obviously strong. Once on the train, it doesn’t take long for George to jump at the opportunity to escape. “Blitz” is about George’s adventure while trying to return home.

It’s an oddly condensed story – the film takes place in one day but feels like a lifetime – that clumsily intercuts between George and Rita. “Blitz” feels caught between a traditional war drama and something more adventurous and exploratory. It doesn’t coalesce like McQueen’s best work, but the frictions that drive “Blitz” make it a unique and occasionally moving experience.

“Blitz” alternates between moments of tenderness and violence throughout; According to McQueen, these comings and goings are not just part of wartime. Following the train station moment, the film cuts to a flashback of Rita and George’s normally unseen Grenadian immigrant father, Marcus (CJ Beckford). On their way home after an enjoyable night dancing at a jazz club, a man deliberately runs into Marcus. In the ensuing altercation, Marcus is arrested and then quickly deported. In an instant, cruelty and racism can destroy a life as surely as a Nazi bomb dropped from above.

The film stays close to George as he moves towards his home in Stepney Green in the East End. “Blitz” is less concerned with aerial bombardment above than with growing prejudices and injustices on the ground. In the film’s most Dickens-like sequence, George is captured and held captive by a Fagin-like criminal (Stephen Graham), whose gang of thieves steal from the dead and loot freshly bombed flats. There are creepy ghostly scenes, mostly in the Café de Paris. One moment it’s a gangly, multiethnic jazz club, the next it’s a bloody ruin, captured in a moving, grotesque shot by Yorick Le Saux.

There are moments of uplift, or at least temporary moments of relief. One of them is Rita, who works in a munitions factory wearing a Rosie the Riveter headscarf, singing for a BBC radio program in the factory. When Rita learns George is missing, an inconvenient subplot ensues that involves her fighting with an unsympathetic boss, arguing with those in charge of the eviction, and trying to find George with the help of a police officer (Harris Dickinson). the role is too vague to resonate).

But we see again and again that it takes the faith and courage of individuals to resist the tide of apathy. This includes activist Mikey Davies (Leigh Gill), who gives a rousing speech at the shelter. And best of all, there’s Nigerian ARP manager Ife (Benjamin Clémentine), whom George meets with Blackface caricatures outside a store advertising coffee and sugar from Africa. Talented singer-songwriter Clémentine has a radiant presence that warms a deeply unsentimental film. Young Heffernan, on the other hand, has no difficulty in carrying the film, which is his first film.

After all, the presence of a war in “Blitz” may not be its defining feature. In McQueen’s film, besieged London faces as much danger of injustice as German planes. For George, Rita, and the others who resist, resistance isn’t just about surviving the war. It’s a way of life.

(“Blitz” contains thematic elements such as some racism, violence, some strong language, brief sexuality, and smoking.)

“BLITZ”

Rated PG-13. at the Landmark Kendall Square Cinema and suburban theaters. Releases on Apple TV+ on November 22

Grade: B+-