Review of Belle (2013) by Chris M — 08 Sep 2015
Highly entertaining, if conventionally structured, English costume drama with a twist: a black heroine! Dido Belle Lindsay is the biracial daughter of an English admiral father and Caribbean mother. After her mother dies an early death, she is brought by her progressive father to be raised on his uncle's country estate.
A true crowd pleaser, spontaneous applause greeted some of the excellent script's choice lines at the TIFF premiere. Newcomer Gugu Mbatha-Raw and Canadian ingenue Sarah Gadon are wonderful as cousins raised as sisters.
The theme of slavery frames this remarkable story, though with a feminist angle: Dido is uniquely positioned to see the irony that while the status of slaves as insurable cargo is debated vigorously, nobody seems to be concerned that wives are the property of husbands.
This review of Belle (2013) was written by Chris M on 08 Sep 2015.
Belle has generally received positive reviews.
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