Stories of children navigating their way through tumultuous times can give fresh perspective to the realities of the world. In Belfast, the audience gets to see the world at the beginning of the three-decade-long civil war between unionists who wanted Northern Ireland to remain within the United Kingdom, and the Irish nationalists who wanted to separate and join the rest of Ireland. While this wasn’t a religious-based conflict, the majority of the unionists were Protestant and the nationalists were Catholic, thus giving the illusion that it was.

Writer and director Kenneth Branagh loosely based Belfast on his childhood and the film follows Buddy (Jude Hill) as he watches his little working-class community within Belfast descend into chaos when his peaceful life is uprooted as the conflict hits their streets. Here are your five screenwriting takeaways from this period piece.

1. A story within a story

Titanic wasn’t about a giant ship that hit an iceberg and sank. It’s about class, love, jealousy and hope. It’s about two people who fall in love on an ill-fated cruise liner heading to the United States.

As such, grand stories about major historical events are not about those events at all, but rather the smaller stories that take place within the overall context. Stories based on true events are often filled with fictitious elements, needed to make the emotional connection work.

In Belfast, the emotional connection is expressed by the father’s debts he struggles to pay, the job that takes him to London, perception within the community, and other unionists who threaten his life and family. With Buddy, the viewer sees a child and the problems associated with school, friends and family. All of these elements — young love, money problems, and the importance of community — play a role in telling the story of late-1960s Belfast.

2. A boy’s perspective

Continuing with the ‘story within a story’ concept, the writer must focus on someone. With Titanic, James Cameron shone a light on the lives of Jack and Rose.

Belfast isn’t necessarily about the start of the conflict, but rather the loss of innocence a child goes through when war breaks out in his city. The perspective of the story is shown through Buddy, a nine-year-old who is scared, curious and filled with mixed emotions. When his parents argue, the camera shows Buddy listening in on the conversation and the viewer sees how a child understands the fight but not the context.

Buddy must learn to grow up quickly even when his mind won’t allow him to realize the extent of the trouble around him. Amid the turmoil, Buddy chases after a girl in his class who he loves and escapes into the pop culture of the day, through both music and movies.

Branagh does a great job showing what it’s like to be that young and at the whim of one’s surroundings; whether being dragged into a riot or the prospect of sitting next to someone in class who you love. Writers can experience how Branagh weaves a tale from a boy’s perspective to help share a larger story. Just like Jojo Rabbit explored a boy’s innocence in Nazi Germany, Belfast shows what the start of a civil war felt like from the eyes of a nine-year-old.

3. Pop culture similarities

Throughout Belfast, there are several times that pop culture shows up in song, television and film. They often reference the situation going on within the film by adding elements like these that both show what the characters were experiencing in pop culture during the time, and an added layer of comparison that allows the filmmaker to show how something like The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance would reflect the dilemma the father is facing.

What does The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance have to do with Belfast? The concept of the former centers on a man who believes in peace and not violence, and the story behind his shooting his antagonist. It’s a story of avoiding conflict, which is something Buddy’s father seems to try to do — he would rather work and take care of his family than be forced to fight for a cause he doesn’t seem to have an opinion on.

There are other references like this that add another layer to the story, including the family watching the beginning of Star Trek, a show premised on a united crew of varying races (both alien and earthly) working together on peacekeeping missions. Again, the promotion of peace over war.

4. Safety vs. Home

What do the characters in the film face? Giving protagonists no good options creates a conflict of its own and can be used to drive the story. In Belfast, civil war has broken out. Meanwhile, the father of the story travels from Belfast to London for work. He sees a different world; one the family only hears about and can’t experience. As the bombings and rioting continue, the military presence builds up and perceived enemies increase, home is no longer that sweet place.

But how can a family just up and move when their life is in Belfast? Even during tumultuous times, people have an affinity for their home. They don’t want to leave their friends, their family, or their memories for uncertainty, even if that uncertainty would move them away from danger.

Writers can see that this universal truth can connect the characters to the audience. It asks, 'What would you choose? Your family’s safety or your home?'

While Buddy doesn’t have a say in the matter, Branagh ensures that the audience connects with the emotion of abandoning one’s friends and family when, at nine years old, that’s really all one’s life is.

There is no good or bad answer to this conflict, just the reality and the decisions grown-ups are forced to make.

5. Peace to chaos

At the start of the film, people walk along the street without a care in the world and kids play soccer and other activities in the street. Everything is peaceful.

Then, chaos.

Suddenly, the world the audience is presented with is destroyed. It’s hard to know why or what anyone did to deserve the riotous behavior but now we’re invested in learning.

This is a great device for writers to turn calm to disaster and let the audience feel that for the next 90 minutes, they won’t know when things might turn violent. It’s reminiscent of the beginning of Die Hard with a Vengeance when the viewer watches a montage of morning in New York as Summer in the City by the Lovin’ Spoonful plays, until the whole scene is interrupted by a massive explosion.

Opening scenes like these add a level of uncertainty and intrigue that keeps the audience guessing and engaged.

Belfast stars Jude Hill, Jamie Dornan, Caitriona Balfe, Ciarán Hinds, and Judi Dench, and is currently in theaters.