Belle (2013)

From blackwiki
Jump to navigation Jump to search

Belle was released on June 13, 2014, in the UK. The British Drama film was produced by DJ Films. The movie storyline was written by Misan Sagay, and directed by Amma Asante. The movie was based on the true story of Dido Elizabeth Belle, the illegitimate daughter of a captain in the Royal Navy[1].

Plot

Belle and Elizabeth in Belle [2]

Captain Sir John Lindsay (Matthew Goode), a British Royal Navy officer, takes Dido Elizabeth Belle (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) to England as her daughter though she needs to be raised by his uncle William Murray (Tom Wilkinson) or Lord Mansfield, the Lord Chief Justice. She lives with them and Lady Elizabeth Murray (Sarah Gadon), who is a motherless daughter of Belle's cousin. When Belle and Elizabeth are already old enough to marry somebody, Belle could not marry due to her mixed race. At one case of an insurance claim, Dido meets John Davinier (Sam Reid), a cleric's son. After several confrontations, Lord Mansfield finally agrees that Dido can marry a gentleman. In the end, John resumes his law apprenticeship with Lord Mansfield, becoming a gentleman, and marries Dido[3].

Controversy

The movie shows how racism was like in the 18th century. We can see from the movie that due to her skin, she has to eat dinner separately from her family when they are away from their house. It is also shown that race and skin status have much more influence compared to wealth and intelligence. One of her cousins, Elizabeth, has various options to marry while Belle only has limited options despite she has more inheritance just like she says "too high to dine with the servant, but too low to dine with my own family.". Moreover, some people even said that her black skin is ugly as stated by Ashford's brother "Dido's mother's blackness is undoubtedly ugly, but Didos' better half won out in her features, which is what makes her so beautiful". The people at the time assumed that beauty is only for white people, while black skin is considered unpleasant[4].

References