Belfast Boy Branagh Finally Beats Oscar Blues

With his cut-glass accent and a career steeped in Shakespeare, Kenneth Branagh appears English to his thespian core. It took a heartfelt film to remind many that he is actually from Northern Ireland

London, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 28th Mar, 2022 ) :With his cut-glass accent and a career steeped in Shakespeare, Kenneth Branagh appears English to his thespian core. It took a heartfelt film to remind many that he is actually from Northern Ireland.

The actor-director moved with his family to England when he was nine to escape the violence over British rule in the province -- a wrenching chapter chronicled movingly in the black-and-white drama "Belfast".

The 61-year-old won the award for best original screenplay at the Oscars on Sunday -- his first Oscar in eight nominations, across a record seven different categories.

"We'll never forget all of those lost in the heartbreaking, heartwarming, human story of that amazing city of Belfast, on the fabulous island of Ireland. This means a lot. Thank you so much," Branagh said as he accepted his award.

"As somebody who was in a small house watching black-and-white television images of the academy Awards in this working class family in the north of Belfast, to come and be here is really very meaningful," he later told journalists backstage.

The film "Belfast" was born during the coronavirus pandemic, as Branagh looked back to his youth growing up in a close-knit Protestant family on a mixed-faith street.

It is set in 1969, when sectarian violence exploded and Catholics were driven out of the area.

"It came out of that silence that a lot of us stared into at the beginning of the lockdown," he said when the film was released in November.

"And it certainly sent me back to this other lockdown that we experienced, where both ends of the street were barricaded.

"In this pandemic, a lot of people have made enormous numbers of sacrifices. And I think in this time, and in these communities, people did (too)," added Branagh, who was also nominated for best director and best picture as a producer.

The clutch of nominations had already made Branagh the first person to earn nods in seven different categories at the Academy Awards, underlining his versatility.