In Steve McQueen’s moving World War II drama “Blitz,” Saoirse Ronan puts an entire life into a song. Her character Rita, who works in a munitions factory, has just sent her 9-year-old son George (Elliott Heffernan) to the countryside for safety, away from the bombs falling on London; now she’s singing on a radio broadcast from the factory, to help keep spirits up. She misses her first cue and starts again, singing a little flat and with her voice cracking. The lyrics “Turn up my collar/ Whatever the weather/ You’ll be with me/ Wherever I go/ We’ll be together” have broken her, just a bit, and she sings thinking of her boy, finding strength, pushing through the song, imagining better days. It’s a perfect, tiny encapsulation of this woman’s life and heart, and Ronan makes it all the more beautiful by not singing it perfectly.

And that’s maybe “Blitz” in a nutshell: not a perfect movie, but a truly moving one. Taking place in London in September 1940, it focuses primarily on George, a biracial child who lives with his loving mother and grandfather Gerald (Paul Weller) in East London and very much doesn’t want to be evacuated. After being subject to racist bullying on the train, he jumps off, determined to find his way back; the bulk of the film is his journey, on which he meets both friends (fellow young escapees from evacuation; a kind Nigerian air warden) and foes (a Dickensian gang of robbers who force George to join them).

McQueen (“Widows,” “12 Years a Slave”) sometimes pulls at the heartstrings a bit too strongly: There’s a dream sequence near the end that’s almost too poignant (though, to be fair, it’s the sort of dream a 9-year-old would have), a few of the characters are rather too saintly, and having a group of neighbors taking shelter in a station sing “Show Me the Way to Go Home” felt a little spot-on for George’s plight. But the film beautifully uses song — it’s practically a musical — to show character, and to convey how music can take us to a better, safer place. There’s a lovely flashback of George, Rita and Gerald singing “Ain’t Misbehavin’” together in their modest parlor, a happy world of three.

Ronan, as always, is luminous and devastating; the fire in her eyes, when Rita learns that George escaped from the train, could light a thousand hearths. And Heffernan, a remarkably poised child actor who’s been beautifully directed, carries the film on his small shoulders. McQueen makes us hope desperately that this brave boy can be reunited with his mother; that somehow, if he just keeps going, he’ll find his way home.

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'BLITZ'

3 stars (out of 4)

MPA rating: PG-13 (for thematic elements including some racism, violence, some strong language, brief sexuality and smoking)

Running time: 2:00

How to watch: Now in theaters and streaming on Apple TV+ Nov. 22

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