Warning: Contains SPOILERS for Blitz!
Steve McQueen Blitz has finally been released, and here’s everything there is to know about the film’s ending, including whether George made it home, he explained. Apple TV+ has finally released 2024’s long-awaited WWII movie, with 12 years of slavery director Steve McQueen helming the project. The epic film tells a gripping story set amid one of the darkest points of World War II. A lot happens in BlitzSo here’s everything you need to know about the film’s ending and its real-world connections.
Blitz takes place during a period of World War II known as “The Blitz”, a series of German bombing campaigns that terrorized London for more than eight months. Blitz follows Elliott Heffernan’s George, a boy who is sent away on a train by his mother, Rita, to get him safely away from the Blitz. However, George is not a fan of leaving Londonwith him jumping from the train. Blitz explores George’s journey as he tries to return home, with the film highlighting the various characters and situations he encounters as he searches for Rita.
What happens at the end of Blitz
How George finds Rita
As George gets closer and closer to home BlitzThe dangers of the German bombing campaign become even more dangerous, with the number of bombs increasing as George approaches the heart of London. At the end of the film, George takes refuge in a London tube station along with some other survivors. However, the station floods due to bombings, putting everyone in danger. This causes George and the rest of the characters to have to flee the station, being forced into the street, as they run the risk of being bombed.
Fortunately, George manages to arrive the next morning, allowing him to see the aftermath of one of the attacks. Authorities and other individuals are searching through the rubble, with George noticing every horrific detail. Fortunately, as George continues walking through London, he spots his mother, Rita. This allows George and Rita to finally reunite days after Rita sends her son away. Although George’s grandfather was killed in the bombingsIt’s good to see that Rita is well, leaving Blitz with a bittersweet ending.
How true is the story of Blitz
Are George and Rita real people?
Blitz is a historical drama, with many Steve McQueen fans asking if the story is true. The story of The Blitz is very real, being one of the most famous moments of the Second World War. The real-world Blitz attacks occurred from September 1940 to May 1941, with the dangerous attacks wreaking havoc across London. Things began to calm down when Germany ordered the Luftwaffe instead focusing on defending German U-boats, with London shooting down more bomber planes until they finally stopped arriving.
Although the Blitz was real, the main characters of Blitz are not. George and Rita are fictional characters invented for this story, with them becoming Blitz in a historical fiction film. However, Steve McQueen was inspired to create George by a real-life photo he saw of a child alone in a tube station during the Blitz (via Biography). McQueen wanted to tell the story of The Blitz through the eyes of a child, leading him to create this fictional story that could easily have taken place during the real events.
George’s story is heavily inspired by real events, as many children were evacuated from London during the Blitz. 800,000 children were evacuated from the UK to get them away from the bombing campaign, making it likely that a story similar to George’s actually happened.
What happened to George’s father in the Blitz
Why wasn’t he around at the Blitz?
One of the greatest mysteries of the end of Blitz it has to do with what happened to George’s father. Although George’s father is not around Blitz In the timeline, the film features a flashback scene that shows Rita and George’s father in a club. Upon leaving, several racist white men begin to harass George’s father, starting a fight with him. The police then come and arrest George because he is black. Rita later tells George that her father was taken from themwith her likely referring to his arrest which is seen in this flashback.
Blitz shows what it was really like to live in the Blitz
And it’s done through George’s eyes
While Steve McQueen Blitz has many themes, it seems like the film’s main aim was to paint a portrait of what it was really like to live in The Blitz. George’s trip acts as an excuse to Blitz to show different vignettes, with George meeting various characters and participating in different stories throughout his journey. He meets a police officer, a gang of thieves who take what’s left of the wreckage, survivors who are forced to sleep in the subway, and more. Things like this actually happened during The Blitz, with the audience seeing them through George’s eyes.
Meanwhile, Rita’s story tries to show what it’s like to be a woman in the Blitz. While George is away, Rita has to replace the men who are at war, with her starting to work in a factory. However, Rita is still the target of a lot of sexism while working this job, with her and her co-workers scrambling across London to do things like open the subway for their survival. Rita must be a worried mother as well as an employee, having to look for her son like many others did after the attacks.
The true meaning of the end of the Blitz
What is the film trying to say?
Blitz has many themes due to the variety of stories it contains, but it mainly focuses on showing how different types of oppression can be exasperated during conflicts. Despite London being constantly bombed, black characters like George are still the target of a lot of racism. As can be seen with racists who don’t want to share a bunker with people of a different color, Blitz is focused on how these prejudiced beliefs are still held even when they are completely irrational, such as during the height of World War II.