The most crucial thing when seeking to produce a complete and accurate representation of something is honesty; the reflection coming back when you hold up the mirror has to be a true one otherwise the integrity is shot.
You might not have heard about The Hearth yet but you should seek it out because what you’re watching with it is a strikingly beautiful self-portrait of the city and people of Belfast.
Far beyond the daily headlines and big issues, the everyday people of the city are the ones weaving their own narratives and that is what is captured with this new documentary film, which had its premiere on Thursday.
This is like no other film you will have seen about Belfast on the big screen with much of the footage shot on mobile phones and no big Hollywood (or even Holywood) names added to sprinkle some razzamatazz on proceedings.
The glamour of The Hearth comes from its realness and raw, unvarnished finish.
Where else would you mind an ornithologist with a Palestine scarf pulled up over his face as he tries to get his toast-loving parrot called Mo Chara to chat to his very dead and stuffed former feathered-friend called Kevin Barry?
Mo Chara, we are told, “never shuts up” but we’ll have to take his owner’s word for that as it couldn’t be convinced to even recreate a parrot’s voice under intense prompting.
Or what other film would leave you in hysterics by two mature women sat in a club in Sandy Row recollecting the time one of them missed an evacuation because she was in the throes of passion? I defy anyone not to join in with the infectious laughs of those two ladies.
The Hearth allows us to meet the women’s darts club and the refugees who have made Belfast their temporary home even if their hearts remain back in their motherlands.
It allows us to spend time with elderly crooners and former soldiers still visibly carrying their pain. We hear from the deaf and the innocence and imagination of the young.
It takes you into community centres, playgrounds, pubs and people’s homes. And every facet of life therein is laid bare.
Belfast is a rich tapestry, one with new patches regularly replacing those we sadly lose. This film unconditionally captures all of that to the point where you will laugh and cry in equal measure.
The Hearth was commissioned as part of Belfast 2024 – the council’s year-long celebration of culture and creativity – and the result is a documentary film, under the creative team led by Mark Cousins and Alison Millar, that provides a candid representation of the city today.
It is a self-portrait that doesn’t hide from the blemishes but, rather, embraces them. And accentuates them.
The threads of warmth, humour, sincerity and humanity are woven together with expert precision and skill to produce a tapestry that will pass the test of time and come to be studied in years to come as a window into Belfast in 2024.
