Four stars. Rated PG, and mostly harmless, aside from an unexpectedly vulgar sexual assault
By Derrick Bang • Originally published in The Davis Enterprise, 5.9.14
Even under dire circumstances,
virtuous individuals will stand against the entrenched horror of grim mob rule,
risking social censure at best, their very lives at worst.
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| With her future — and happiness — on the line, Dido (Gugu Mbatha-Raw, left) accepts some sage relationship advice from her foster mother, Lady Mansfield (Emily Watson), before determining what her gentleman caller has in mind. |
Oskar Schindler clandestinely
defied Nazis and saved the roughly 1,200 Jews employed in his German factories.
Civil rights activist César Chávez essentially shamed the United States into
acknowledging and improving the wretched conditions under which primarily
Latino laborers harvested foodstuffs. Polish shipyard worker Lech Walesa
founded the Solidarity Movement that led to the fall of communism in his own
country, and likely hastened the demise of the Soviet Union.
Which brings us to William
Murray, the first Earl of Mansfield, a late 18th century barrister, politician
and judge whose enlightened but highly unpopular decisions did much to
encourage England’s eradication of slavery and the financially lucrative slave
trade.
Murray may not be the central
character in director Amma Asante’s thoroughly engaging Belle, but his
presence looms large over the events depicted in this period drama. I must
point out, however, that Misan Sagay’s script is far more fancy than fact; she
plays fast and loose with historical accuracy, and it’s best to regard this
depiction of Dido Elizabeth Belle as wish-fulfillment ... a suggestion of what might
(should?) have been, rather than what was.
Sagay candidly admits, in this film’s
press notes, that she was “inspired” to write this story after viewing a
painting displayed at the University of St. Andrews, in Scotland. The 1779 work,
a typically aristocratic portrait at one time credited to Johann Zoffany,
depicts two beautifully outfitted young women — one black, one white — who,
from their stance and expressions, appear to be both affectionate friends and
equals.
Which, needless to say, would
have been quite unusual at the time.
Asante and Sagay adhere closely
to established fact during a brief prologue, with Captain Sir John Lindsay
(Matthew Goode) bringing his illegitimate mixed-race daughter, Dido, to be
raised at Hampstead’s Kenwood House by his uncle and aunt, Lord and Lady
Mansfield (Tom Wilkinson and Emily Watson), while he returns to his naval
duties. This childless couple already are raising another grand-niece,
Elizabeth Murray, roughly the same age as Dido (which makes them third cousins,
if I have that straight).
Lord and Lady Mansfield likely
initially accept Dido as a companion for Elizabeth, but there’s no question
that the former grows up in privileged surroundings, well treated in a
household that tolerates both her illegitimacy and dark skin.
