Belle (2013)

A rare case in which my dad selected a movie I never heard of before. It's also a rare case in which I had to wonder about the title. The protagonist, Dido Elizabeth Belle Lindsay, always goes by "Dido" or "Miss Lindsey." I suppose Dido would evoke either the mythical queen or the singer, but it wasn't the only alternative. Belle evokes either Beauty and the Beast or a southern debutante...then again, perhaps not for native British audiences.

Nor had I heard about the true story on which it's based. IMDb presently lists only one, quite trivial error, tho other sources say it plays a tad fast and loose in parts.

Dido was indeed the 18th-century daughter of an English nobleman and a slave (not his own), and her father insisted that his uncle and aunt raise her as one of their own while he went off to war. They obliged -- to a point, with a few segregating house rules if only to set guests' minds at ease. Dido spent plenty of time with her cousin Elizabeth, but when Dido inherited a fortune and Elizabeth had none coming, tensions increased, especially regarding the prospect of marriage. Of course, Dido would have been under plenty of tension even without Elizabeth, between her unique social status and her doubts of whether she even wanted a husband.

The second half of the movie goes into the main reason for history recording these people. Dido's great uncle, Lord Chief Justice William Murray, herein played by the excellent Tom Wilkinson, presided over the notorious Zong case, in which a ship's crew jettisoned many slaves and later claimed they did it to ensure a sufficient water supply for the rest (Amistad, anyone?), but opponents alleged that they killed diseased slaves to collect more money via insurance. Naturally, with Dido under his tutelage for years, Murray came under suspicion of bias. The film apparently exaggerates both Dido's connection to the events and the magnitude of Murray's court decision.

In truth, the whole thing feels a little fake for some reason. Maybe the little simplistic, sensational, Hollywood-esque details are starting to get to me more than they used to. Maybe it becomes more noticeable with stories set centuries ago. Maybe dealing with heavy stuff like slavery only in the abstract while keeping everything on screen beautiful (not least the titular belle, played by Gugu Mbatha-Raw) suggests a cop-out. But I think the real problem is frequent predictability, a trait I blame less on reality than on formulaic structure and hints on the filmmakers' part.

If you can put the slight falsity aside, you shouldn't have trouble enjoying the movie. It carries a unisex charm while handling complicated yet easy-to-follow social situations not found in many other works. None of the actors were miscast, and beyond those mentioned, you may appreciate Emily Watson, Miranda Richardson, and Tom Felton (whose presence advances my theory that every modern British film demands at least one Harry Potter veteran).