Page 30 - ARUBA TODAY

A30 PEOPLE & ARTS
Tuesday 26 sepTember 2017
Review: ‘Victoria & Abdul’

illuminates only half the title

By MARK KENNEDY captured beautifully by carpet.”
AP Entertainment Writer director Stephen Frears, He means that all kinds of
Stop us if this sounds famil- who knows a thing or two things are woven into our
iar: about royalty, having di- fabric but he really comes
A tall, dark, bearded ser- rected Helen Mirren in “The off as no more than a door-
vant of rough breeding Queen.” mat.
comes from far away to Much of this film is com- (At least Connolly got
suddenly charm a grumpy, posed of stuffy royal ban- to show some grit as the
widowed Queen Victoria quets with hundreds of queen’s previously adored
and thus upend Britain’s servants scurrying about servant —
royal court at the turn of or soaring landscapes with “Are you deaf as well as
the 20th century. hundreds of servants scur- stupid?” he told the Prince
In this image released by Focus Features, Judi Dench, left, and You were perhaps think- rying around. of Wales in one scene.)
Ali Fazal appear in a scene from “Victoria and Abdul.” ing of the film “Mrs. Brown,” There’s only one major Mid-way through the film,
starring Judi Dench as the problem: The man at the Karim has moved perma-
monarch and Bill Connolly center, Abdul Karim. He nently to England and be-
as her Scottish underling, remains a blank canvas, come the queen’s spiritual
John Brown? Well, hold on. his motives unexplored, his adviser, startling the court
A new movie has come interior or domestic life un- with his outsized influence.
along exactly 20 years lat- captured. She will have none of it, sid-
er with an eerily similar plot. He is called “the brown ing always with her strong,
Either Victoria was a crea- John Brown” and offers no silent, Indian beefcake.
ture of habit in her attach- riposte. The title of the film That also sounds familiar:
ments or her filmmakers promises us two people but Check out “The Green
are. we only get one. Mile” or “The Legend of
Substitute Connolly with Ali Perhaps screenwriter Lee Bagger Vance,” which also
Fazal and you get “Victo- Hall (“War Horse,” ‘’Billy El- feature non-white charac-
ria & Abdul,” a film about liot”) meant to leave him ters with mystical powers
the then-most powerful a cypher, allowing the employed entirely for the
woman on earth’s second English to try to define him, benefit of white leads.
unusually intimate relation- but that’s being generous. The filmmakers knew in
ship with a commoner. It’s hard to leave this film 2017 they couldn’t ignore
In this case, a Muslim from and not think that Spike the horrors of empire so it’s
India in 1887. Lee’s concept of “magi- left to actor Adeel Akhtar,
Fascinatingly, Dench is cal Negroes” needs to be who plays Karim’s more
back as the monarch, two expanded for other people radicalized companion, to
decades after she played of color. carry the flag of national-
Victoria and earned an The movie is based on jour- ism and anti-colonialism.
Oscar nomination for it. It’s nalist Shrabani Basu’s book It’s a pity we never know
a privilege to watch her “Victoria & Abdul: The True what his friend, who has
revisit the crusty, we-are- Story of the Queen’s Clos- the queen under his influ-
not-amused queen, who est Confidant,” which told ence, thinks.
is now in the twilight of her of Victoria’s close friend- British films seem to be look-
life. Dench is riveting, un- ship with an Indian servant ing backward these days
sentimental, impatient and sent to the court with the on their legacy in India.
gloriously brittle. sole task of offering a gift of “Victoria & Abdul” comes
Sometimes all she does a ceremonial coin. out only a few months after
is offer an irritated sigh, The filmmakers have taken “Viceroy’s House,” which
speaking volumes. “Every- factual liberties — the film explored how India and
one I loved has died and is “based on real events... Pakistan were carved from
I just go on and on,” she mostly,” which is very cute the former British Empire in
cries. but meaningless. 1947.
Dench is well supported Fazal’s Karim smiles a lot, In that case, England’s Lord
— the cast includes the seems absolutely enchant- Mountbatten came off as
marvelous Eddie Izzard, ed by English weather and, honest, loving and decent.
the late Tim Pigott-Smith at their second meeting, In “Victoria & Abdul,” the
and the imperious Michael without provocation, pros- Empress of India comes off
Gambon — and the pomp trates himself to kiss Victo- honest, loving and decent.
and highly choreographed ria’s feet. In neither film do Indians tell
English ceremonialism is Why? He thought it would their story or any story with-
“cheer her up.” out a gauzy English filter.
What does Karim think That seems deaf as well as
of colonialism, of English stupid.
state-sponsored brutal- “Victoria & Abdul,” a Focus
ity toward his people? We Features release, is rated
never know. “It is my hum- PG-13 by the Motion Pic-
ble privilege to serve Her ture Association of Amer-
Majesty,” he says. ica for “some thematic
Later, he puts on his best elements and language”
Forrest Gump to tell the Running time: 111 minutes.
queen that “Life is like a Two stars out of four.q