S2 E2: What can Belfast (2021) tell us about life at the start of the Troubles?

Regular listeners may or may not have realised by now, but this podcast The Historian’s Cut was born in Belfast. The Historian’s Cut is a podcast that looks at films and asks what they can tell us about what life was like in the past. So you can imagine - a box office smash - nominated for seven Oscars - called Belfast - and about the city during the outbreak of the Troubles… well, we had to have it on the show. Of course our local connection is not the only reason. Kenneth Branagh’s Belfast, as well as being a semi-autobiography of its creator, in its inclusion of details on the social and cultural history of time, could be seen as a break with prior films on the Troubles. That’s why it more than merits, in its own right, us spending this episode asking the question: What can Belfast tell us about life at the start of the Troubles? Special guest Professor Sean O'Connell, expert in British and Irish social history at Queen's University Belfast, joins us to answer this question.