Interesting people in our past can and have been fascinating fodder for stories based on truth. We've seen many: "The King's Speech", "Philomena", "The Queen", "Frost/Nixon", "Jackie" and the like--the list is endless. But now we have in the offing, "Victoria & Abdul", a story not only based on true events but one with heart as well.
An Indian clerk named Abdul Karim (Ali Fazal) travels to London to present Queen Victoria (Judi Dench) with a ceremonial coin for her Golden Jubilee. The pair form an unexpected bond upon meeting, but the lifelong friendship that develops is threatened by the disapproval of Victoria's inner circle comprising of her son, Bertie, Price of Wales (Eddie Izzard), Sir Henry Ponsonby (Tim Pigott-Smith), Lord Salisbury (Michael Gambon), Dr. Reid (Paul Higgins) and others. As the Queen contemplates what her life of service has meant and the restrictions it has placed on her, Abdul brings her joy as he indulges her fascination with the country she rules over from half a world away.
Others to round out the cast are Adeel Akhtar as Mohammed, Olivia Williams as Lady Churchill, Fenella Woolgar as Miss Phipps, Julian Wadham as Alick Yorke, Robin Soans as Athur Bigge, Ruth McCabe as Mrs. Tuck, Simon Callow as Puccini and Sukh Ojla as Mrs. Karim.
This was directed by the incomparable Stephen Frears ("Mary Reilly" '96, "High Fidelity" 2000, "Dirty Pretty Things" '02, "The Queen" '06, "Tamara Drewe" '10, "Philomena" '13, "Florence Foster Jenkins" '16) plus others and TV. Besides Kenneth Branaugh, Frears is the consummate pro when it comes to period films. Because this is certainly similar territory, this director could probably direct these types of films in his sleep. His team--production designer, cinematographer, music composer, editor and actors are chosen with extreme carefulness in order to establish that feeling of realism to each of the stories, this being of no exception. It was beautifully written by Lee Hall ("The Prince of Hearts" (TV movie) '97, "Billy Elliot" 2000, "Toast" (TV movie) '10, "War Horse" '11) plus others, which is based on the book by Shrabani Basu. I think what makes this stand out above the other period films based on a true story is the ability to show heart and inspiration as a main ingredient to showing the logistical aspects of the film--the time period, the meeting of these two and the responses of her staff. This young clerk was just being himself by attempting to bring joy to the Queen's otherwise boring life, but with her staff's jealousy always as an interruption, this clerk never seemingly had a chance. This is truly a message of kindness, heart, and true friendship vs. jealousy, selfishness and envy with this friendship winning, but not without a price. It's is sad when a person can't be themselves without retribution because of others' insecurities, and writer Lee Hall definitely brought this home in spades.
This is about the meeting of two unlikely characters and these two actors pulled it off well. This, among the message, is why you are seeing this film, because without these elements, it would be like any other biopic that we've seen many times over.
Out of 4 Stars: 4 Rated: PG-13 111mins.
No comments:
Post a Comment