BELLE
By Gary Murray
Starring Gugu Mbatha Raw, Tom Wilkinson and Miranda Richardson
Written by Misan Sagay
Directed by Amma Asante
Running time 151 min
MPAA Rating PG-13
Selig Film Rating Matinee
For some reason, Americans think that slavery was just a US problem. The fact is that a few centuries back, slavery was the norm throughout most of the world. England was one of the biggest players in the slave trade. As man became more enlightened, the idea of owning another person became more and more abhorrent. It is this backdrop that the film Belle takes place.
Part mystery and part melodrama, the film Belle is about Dido Elizabeth Belle (Gugu Mbatha-Raw). When we first see her in 1769, she is a little mulatto girl living in the slums of London. She is taken by her father to live with her uncle and lawyer William Murray, 1st Earl of Mansfield (Tom Wilkinson). He is the second more powerful man in England, behind the King.
The child Belle is the result of a tryst but is still a part of stature. Her father insists that William raise the little girl until he comes back from his service with the Royal Navy. Everyone knows that his returning safely is a long-shot proposition. Dad insists that the young Elizabeth be accorded all the rights of her blue-blood stature. William Murray sees this as a very big societal problem but respects the wishes of his nephew.
We flash forward a few years and Dido is a young woman with no place. She is not considered a part of true society being mulatto. But she also has a fortune which is attractive to society suitors who have title but no cash. According to Lady Mansfield (Emily Watson) he cannot marry above her status due to her skin color but cannot marry below her station due to her blood. This is a time of courtly manners where status is the rule of the day. The family has no idea what to do, but they do love the young woman.
She lives in the manor with her cousin Lady Elizabeth Murray (Sarah Gadon). She is a simple woman who needs a wealthy match to keep her in finery. Her father has abandoned her with William Murray and the man has taken up with a new family. Basically she has title but no money and she needs to marry above her station. Half of the film is about moving up and down the social ladder. She tries to land Lord Ashford (Alex Jennings), a horrible man of wealth and status. He is represented by his mother Lady Ashford (Miranda Richardson), a vicious shrew looking for land and title.
The other half of the film concerns a case before William Murray, 1st Earl of Mansfield who is also the Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales. A slave ship The Zong was running low on water and had to drop their cargo. In other words, in order to save the crew, they drown all the slaves. They are suing the insurance company for loss of cargo.
The how and the why of the death of the slaves is the other driving plotline in Belle. William Murray must decide if the incident was a simple matter of survival or a plot to scam the insurance company. William takes on an apprentice lawyer John Davinier (Sam Reid). He is a man who believes that slavery is wrong and that the case will change how England views the slave trade. John is also smitten by Belle. All of the plot threads tie together with the final judgment by the Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales.
The film is directed by Amma Asante. She does a strong job keeping the story moving and weaving different elements into a cohesive whole. With the stunning costumes and beautiful scenery, half of her job is done with the secondary arts. Since little is known of the actual story of Belle, screenwriter Misan Sagay has to build scenes from whole cloth. The events did happen but this is not a documentary.
Gugu Mbatha-Raw is just brilliant as a woman caught in a world not of her making. It is a society where no one marries for love but for consolation of power and privilege. She has money which means she has power but being only half-white she is considered half a person. Also being a woman, she is considered half a citizen. Without a husband, she is not to be considered to have power. It is hard in the 21st century to imagine how station could be more important than the person, but the actress puts a very human face on the situation.
The females in the cast are all catty to the point of this being a telling tale along the lines of a Real Housewives of the manor born. They all scheme to get the best of each other, working angles and trying to one-up each other. It is a verbal cat-fight with manners and statue on the line. Mix Dowton Abbey with a reality show and one gets most of the motivations behind Belle.
Belle was released in 2013 in hopes of getting Oscar buzz but never could rise above the fray. It is finally being released in 2014. While elements of the film are stunning, the overall film is a bit too of posing in costumes than an in-depth study of how race and society intermix.
