Copyright Notice: It’s easy to see when our selected quotes have been copied and pasted, as you’re also copying our format, mistakes, and movie scene descriptions. If you decide to copy from us please be kind and either link back, or refer back to our site. Please check out our copyright policies here. Thanks!
Starring: Caitriona Balfe, Judi Dench, Jamie Dornan, Ciarán Hinds, Jude Hill, Colin Morgan, Lara McDonnell, Gerard Horan, Conor MacNeill
OUR RATING: ★★★½
Story:
Drama written and directed by Kenneth Branagh. Belfast (2021) centers on a young boy Buddy (Jude Hill), and his working class family amid the tumult of Belfast, Northern Ireland in late 1960s.
Our Favorite Quotes:
'If they can't understand you, then they're not listening, and that's their problem.'- Pop (Belfast) Click To Tweet
Best Quotes
Buddy: Paddy Kavanagh told me as long as Catholics keep confessing everything bad that they do to a priest, then they can do whatever they want, and God will forgive them
all the time.
Ma: Well, Paddy Kavanagh’s family’s not going to be living in this street for much longer, so you’d better check he’s not taking the hand out of you. I don’t know how it works. They get a lot of water thrown on them, and then they’re okay. I think that’s it.
Buddy: I’ve had too much God for one day.
Ma: Well, your granny says you can never have too much God. You might need him before too long.
Buddy: But, daddy, are you not going to be a vigilante on our barricade?
Pa: No more talk about bloody barricades. That whole nonsense will stop soon enough.
Ma: I wouldn’t be too sure about that.
Buddy: Was that our side that done all that to them Catholic houses in our street, daddy?
Pa: There is no our side and their side in our street. Or there didn’t used to be, anyway.
Pa: It’s all bloody religion. That’s the problem.
Buddy: Then why are you sending us to church?
Pa: Because your granny would kill me if I didn’t.
Buddy: But, daddy, if we were Catholics, we could not go to church, and then every once in a wee while, we could go in and confess. And then they’d have to tell us we were forgiven, and we wouldn’t have to go in again for ages.
Pa: I’ve nothing against Catholics. But it’s a religion of fear.
Pa: So the doctor says, “Listen, John. I’ve got some bad news and worse.” And John says, “Oh, no. What’s the bad news?” And he goes, “Well, you’ve only got twenty-four hours to live.” John says, “That’s awful. What could be worse than that?” Doctor says, “Well, I’ve been trying to get ahold of you since yesterday.”
Moira: They can just come up to you when you’re not expecting it, and ask you, “Are you Protestant or Catholic?” But it’s a trick question, you see, because they don’t tell you what they are. And what do you say then to not get a dig in the gob?
Buddy: “I’m a Catholic?”
Moira: Wrong. That’s exactly what they think you will say. They think you’re trying to bluff them. But you have to double-bluff them.
Buddy: How?
Moira: You say, “I’m a Protestant.”
Buddy: But I am a Protestant.
Moira: That’s the point!
Billy Clanton: We’re looking to cleanse the community a wee bit. You wouldn’t want to be the odd man out in this street. You saw what happened to your neighbors from the other side.
Pa: You touch my family, and I’ll kill you.
'Too long a sacrifice can make a stone of the heart.' - Pop (Belfast) Click To Tweet
Frankie West: Not many people chose this.
Pa: There’s a few men hiding behind them barricades.
Frankie West: And they’ll keep hiding where they’re afraid for their families. It’s a waiting game now. When it’s time for that wall to come down, I’ll be the first to swing a hammer, but now? “They also serve who stand and wait.” We can’t all be acting the Lone Ranger.
Ma: No wonder you brought us to this.
Pa: It’s educational for the boys.
Ma: Aye. Raquel Welch is a hell of an education.
Pa: This is the time to think about making a new start.
Ma: I know nothing else but Belfast.
Pa: Exactly. There’s a whole world out there. We can give these boys a better chance than we ever had.
Pa: We’re living in a civil war, and I’m not here to protect my family.
Ma: [referring to the brochures of other countries] What are those supposed to be?
Pa: An escape route.
'What's yours is mine, and what's mine is my own.' - Granny (Belfast) Click To Tweet
Pop: [to Buddy] Women are very mysterious.
Granny: And women can smash your face in too, mister.
Pop: Your granny’s become less mysterious over the years.
Pop: [referring to Catherine] So, you really like her?
Buddy: When I grow up, I want to marry her.
Pop: Yeah, sounds like you really like her.
Buddy: [referring to Catherine’s home] I pass it every day on my way home. I try to look in, but she never sees me. She’s always doing her bloody homework. If she were a wee bit more stupid like me, we’d be sitting together by now.
Pop: Ah, “a pity beyond all telling is hid in the heart of love”.
Granny: Oh, he’s full of pretty answers, that one.
Granny: Here, take this threepenny bit. Get yourself a wee sweetie.
Buddy: I’m not allowed, Granny. My da says you can’t afford it.
Granny: I’m always saying to your man there, what’s yours is mine, and what’s mine is me own.
Mr. Stewart: Right, Billy, we’ve no call for fists here.
Billy Clanton: Aye? Well, what is it the man says? A fist is only as good or bad as the man using it. Remember that.
[punches Stewart in the face]
'The Irish were born for leaving. Otherwise, the rest of the world would have no pubs.' - Auntie Violet (Belfast) Click To Tweet
Buddy: God. This takes ages. No wonder they call it long division.
Pop: Patience. Patience with the sums. Patience with the girl.
Pop: And now just make sure your numbers aren’t very clear to read. She might give you the benefit of the doubt if your seven looks like a one with a fancy tail, right? The same with a two and a six. Keep her guessing. That means you’ll have two or three horses in every race.
Buddy: Isn’t that cheating?
Pop: No, well, I’d call it spread betting. And if it gets you moved up by one seat to bask in the light of her glory, then you’re off to the races.
Buddy: But sure there’s only one right answer.
Pop: If that were true, son, people wouldn’t be blowing themselves up all over this town.
Buddy: I think my da wants us to leave Belfast.
Pop: What do you want?
Buddy: Every night, before I go to sleep, when I say my prayers, I ask God if he’d fix it so that when I wake up in the morning, I’m the best footballer in the world. And then I also ask him as well that when I grow up, can I marry Catherine. Even if she loves Ronnie Boyd. But she could still see him, but she’d marry me. That’s what I want.
Granny: Be careful what you wish for. That’s what the minister at the wee mission says.
'If you can't be good, be careful.' - Pa (Belfast) Click To Tweet
Catherine: [to Buddy] Have you gone to the moon yet? Do you want to, with me? It’ll save you getting cold waiting outside our house.
Pa: When did you write to them?
Ma: When the last receipt came through. I knew it was the last one because for three bloody years I’ve been counting them envelopes coming through that door, and there wasn’t so much as a thank you with this one.
Pa: It’s the taxman, for God’s sake. Who do you expect, Father Christmas?
Pa: My mother’s worried about you.
Pop: Your mother’s worried about you.
Pa: [to Buddy] Be good, son. If you can’t be good, be careful.
Pa: You’re going to need to stay away from my family.
Billy Clanton: That’s big talk for a fella who’s never here.
Pa: You can rely on me to be here when it matters.
Billy Clanton: I hope your timing’s good. Things get out of hand pretty quick round these parts.
'All the Irish need to survive is a phone, a Guinness, and the sheet music to Danny Boy.' - Auntie Violet (Belfast) Click To Tweet
Billy Clanton: Do you know the problem with men like you? You think you’re better than the rest of us.
Pa: And the problem with men like you is you know you’re not.
Billy Clanton: We’ll keep it simple. You’re with us, or you’re against us.
Trailer: