Review of Belle (2013) by Dominic S — 29 May 2014

Belle is about a young African-British woman who was born from a Black woman and a White British official. Her father began to care for her as she lived with him ever since she was a little girl. After her father died at sea, her great uncle, living with him, her great aunt and her cousin, had cared for Belle.

Belle was named as the heiress to her family's fortune and that was the beginning of her prejudices.

This story is a true one. It takes place is Britain in the early 1800s and Belle is in a very interesting and rare position in her life: someone with her skin color while also being part of a royal family. She is higher than the slaves but seems to be low enough to not be able to dine with her family and their guests.

What tops this story off is a famous occurrence that happened where a slave ship full of diseased slaves were forced to be drowned. The ship's captain claims that there was never enough supplies to last the slaves ending in their killing with no where else to turn.

But what a friend of Belle's finds out is that the ship had multiple opportunities to have the slaves replenished and cared for but they never took the opportunities because the insurance for the slaves would pay them more than any slaves owners looking to buy slaves would because they were diseased. This was a famous court case back then, it was a big mark on the journey to President Lincoln's abolishing of slavery.

This film's story and plot are very well crafted. It seems like this would be one for the Oscars to consider.

But there is simply no life to this film. Everything fits well in this film. The directing, music and acting are all great. But simply put, there is no spark or life to this film. It seemed like a film that could have been shown on TV instead that was marketed towards the elderly.

On the other hand, I quite enjoyed Gugu Mbatha-Raw's (unusual name) performance. The only film I ever saw her in was Tom Hank's Larry Crowne and I have to say, this is a big step up for Gugu.

Belle, I give you a 60%.