The Age of Commercialism

A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

I heard about this film once or twice during its release in cinemas, I later found out about the good cast in it, and it did look and sound interesting, so I gave it a chance. Based on a true story, and inspired by the 1779 painting of the title character, Dido Elizabeth Belle Lindsay (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) was born in 1761, the natural daughter of enslaved African woman Maria Belle from the West Indies, and British Royal Navy officer Captain Sir John Lindsay (Matthew Goode). After Dido's mother's dies in 1765, Captain Lindsay takes her from the West Indies slums and entrusts her to his uncle William Murray (Tom Wilkinson), 1st Earl of Mansfield, the Lord Chief Justice, and his wife Elizabeth (Emily Watson), who live in the estate Kenwood House, in Hampstead outside London. Lord and Lady Mansfield raise Dido as a free gentlewoman, along with their niece Lady Elizabeth Murray (Sarah Gadon), who came to live with them after her mother died and her father remarried. The two cousins reach adulthood, an oil portrait is commissioned, but Dido is unhappy sitting for it, worried she will portrayed as a black servant, rather than as an aristocrat. Dido's father dies and leaves her a generous sum of £2,000 a year, enough to make her an heiress, in contrast, Lady Elizabeth will have no income from her father, as his son from his new wife will become sole heir. A coming-out to society party is arranged for Elizabeth, but Lord and Lady Mansfield believe no gentleman will agree to marry Dido because of her mixed-race status. Lord Mansfield agrees to take a vicar's son, John Davinier (Sam Reid), into an apprenticeship for law, he becomes part of the Zong massacre case, this was the mass killing of 133 African slaves by the crew of the British slave ship Zong. During preparations for the court case, John gets very close to Dido, because of his interest in the cause of the abolitionists, Lord Mansfield tells him not to see her anymore, and ends his apprenticeship. Dido's aunts, Lady Mansfield, and her sister Lady Mary Murray (Penelope Wilton), seek to steer Dido into an engagement with Oliver Ashford (James Norton), younger brother of the bigoted James Ashford (Harry Potter's Tom Felton). James starts courting Elizabeth, but stops when he realises she has no inheritance, with no fortune Oliver proposes to Dido and she accepts, but she continues to see John, James takes Dido aside and says she will disgrace his family's name, then insults and manhandles her. Dido later tells Elizabeth of his true character and says she will give her part of her inheritance to help her find a new match, Lord Mansfield finds out about Dido and John seeing each other and confronts them, John professes his love for her, and later Dido meets with Oliver and breaks off their engagement. Dido is relieved when the oil painting is revealed, she is shown as Elizabeth's equal, she tells Lord Mansfield this proves that convention can be defied, he is ruling over the Zong case, he sees John and Dido outside the court, he says that she can only marry a gentleman, so reinstates John's apprenticeship, so he can become a lawyer. Dido and John share a kiss, acknowledging their romantic feelings, they went on to get married and had three children together, Elizabeth also married and had children, and their painting hangs at Scone Palace in Scotland, the birthplace of Lord Mansfield. Also starring Miranda Richardson as Lady Ashford, Alex Jennings as Lord Ashford, Lauren Julien-Box as Young Dido and Cara Jenkins as Young Elizabeth. Mbatha-Raw gives a good leading performance as the mixed-race aristocrat, taken from the slums into a life of luxury, the supporting cast including Wilkinson, Felton and Norton do well also, it is essentially a story examining aristocracy overcame racism of the time, and a simple men and women of wealth courting with great costumes, all in all it is a reasonably interesting period drama. Worth watching!

If actress Gugu Mbatha-Raw becomes a full fledged Hollywood star, and I sincerely hope she does, it can be traced back to this film, her first leading role and one she handles with grace and beauty. The movie Belle itself is a somewhat mediocre film that white washes a lot of unpleasant history. The purpose of this is actually pretty nobel. As the movie itself points out a lot of historical depictions of black people involve them secondary, suffering or in pain. Belle shows a young black woman as fully romanticized and loved as any Austen heroine. To wit: Belle is about Dido Elizabeth Belle the daughter of an unnamed black slave mother and a captain of noble birth. We first meet Dido as a child when her mother is dead and her father has appeared to rescue her. Despite the fact that the two are estranged he reassures her that he loves her very much as he did her mother and takes her from the hovel where she is living to the luxurious estate belonging to his uncle. Despite some objections from his aunt and uncle, Dido is reluctantly welcomed into the bosom of the family estate as a companion for her cousin Elizabeth, another unfortunate cast off family member (albeit one who is white). The movie rejoins Dido again over a decade later when she is a young woman ready to be courted and full of questions as to how she can live in a world where she is privileged over other young ladies and yet discriminated against on the basis of her skin colour. The script doesn't always flow when making these points but it is saved by Gugu Mbatha-Raw (utterly charming). Sam Reid makes for a handsome and passionate hero. The film is also incredibly luxurious and gorgeous though the editing can't hide the fact some awkward moments that seem to imply that certain scenes didn't get all the coverage they needed. Still a must see for fans of historical romances.

I had not heard of this movie until it I stumbled across it in the TV schedules! What a good job I did because it is a superb movie on many levels.First, the two leads, Sam Reid and Gugu Mbanga-Raw, are excellent. Reid plays the of Davinier with with passion and conviction, a man ahead of his times in his views on the value of all life, at a time when slaves were treated as possessions. Mbanga-Raw is a gorgeous woman and it must have been hard to play the role of Dido with the requisite uncertainty that life as a mulatto in society would have carried with it. But she is inspired to stand up for her beliefs by the steadfastness of Davinier in his beliefs.The supporting cast do a great job, from Tom Wilkinson to Emily Watson to Miranda Richardson and Penelope Wilton, and everybody else. The film is directed with a sure hand and the cinematography captures the atmosphere of the day superbly.If you have not seen this movie, try and find the DVD. You won;t be disappointed!

The content of the argument, the script ... have consistency from beginning to end: the principle of human dignity, of the convictions by free will, ethics, key complex personalities, complex characters, well placed at the time period, revolutionary tinted.Excellent performances. Excellent costumes, music, photography ... Good atmosphere with landscapes, architecture, medium of transportation, various decorations, taking social classes in consideration...A democratic and well management of social contradictions from different classes, but increasing in contents into the recognition of human dignity regardless of race, class ... Good Content, humanist ideology and justice as supreme values.I love movies of historic significance based in real facts for the betterment of society.(translated from Spanish with help of Google Translate and with some light corrections from my son, Carlos Sujou)