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I'll Lock Up
- Messages
- 5,200
- Location
- Troy, New York, USA
Belle - Very well done historical drama with a host of great familiar Brit actors: Tom Wilkinson, Matthew Goode, Penelope Wilton, Miranda Richardson, etc. Reminiscent of Jane Austen in its depiction of late-1700s class/marriage issues.
However, I found it hard to feel much sympathy for the mixed-race heroine, who is raised as a near-equal on a sumptuous estate and experiences relatively little, and relatively benign, prejudice. Sure, it's not fair that she's not treated as fully equal for her color, and her influencing of her great-uncle (Wilkinson) to strike a blow for abolition in the court case he's ruling on provides interesting drama. But she lives as a lady of enormous privilege, better off than ninety-something percent of the British populace, is loved and treated respectfully by her noble relations, and ends up with a good man... making it a bit hard to feel that she's been ill-treated.
Every movie doesn't have to be "!2 Years a Slave". I found her backstory fascinating. And just because they didn't show it in the film doesn't mean she didn't experience worse, I have only to look at what I've experienced in my lifetime to know that they didn't show it all. The English, while possibly not as bloodthirsty as their American cousins were slave holders as well. They just had the decency to end it without enduring a civil war. I suggest you see "Amazing Grace" if you haven't already seen it for a bit more context.
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