Tag Archives: England

“Viceroy’s House” by Gurinder Chadha (UK, 2017)

The weak romance story is offset by a good depiction of the historical and political events surrounding the departure of the English from India.
At one moment in the movie, the partition of India is compared to that of Palestine and of Ireland, other British colonies that have suffered greatly, without however digging deeper into the subject.

Cast: Hugh Bonneville, Gillian Anderson, Michael Gambon, Manish Dayal, Simon Callow, Om Puri, Lily Travers, Huma Qureshi
Director: Gurinder Chadha
Writer: Gurinder Chadha, Paul Mayeda Berges, Moira Buffini
Cinematographer: Ben Smithard
Editor: Valerio Bonelli, Victoria Boydell
Composer: A.R. Rahman

“Belle” by Amma Asante (UK, 2013)

Belle

Similar in its content to A United Kingdom (2016), Belle shows in a dramatic and intelligent way the web of social constraints that ensue from racial segregation (horizontal) and hierarchical stratification and dominance (vertical inequalities). Furthermore, in both movies, love and politics are cleverly intertwined. And to make matters still more enjoyable, their main female characters are and remain intelligent and substantial throughout the movie.

Cast: Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Tom Wilkinson, Miranda Richardson, Sarah Gadon, Sam Reid, Matthew Goode, Emily Watson, Tom Felton, Penelope Wilton
Director: Amma Asante
Screenplay: Misan Sagay
Cinematography: Ben Smithard
Music: Rachel Portman
Film Editing: Victoria Boydell, Pia Di Ciaula