Film Review: 'Amistad' with Jane Austen thrown in

If it wasn't for the mischievous allure of star Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Belle, a tale of the struggles of a mixed-race woman in the dying days of slave-era Britain, the film wouldn't have much going for it.

In spite of a supporting cast that includes Tom Wilkinson, Emily Watson, Miranda Richardson and Downton Abbey's Penelope Wilton, Belleis a vehicle that signals Mbatha-Raw's star potential rather than a memorable piece of social period drama.

The half-South African, British-born Mbatha-Raw plays Dido Elizabeth Belle, the illegitimate daughter of a naval officer raised by her uncle, Supreme Justice of England, Lord Mansfield (Wilkinson) and his wife (Watson) as their child and best friend of their other niece and charge Elizabeth (Sarah Murray).

As she grows up Dido has to face the prejudices against her mixed-race heritage when it comes to questions of marriage and her future. When she meets the passionately abolitionist vicar's son John Davernier (Sam Reid), well, you can guess what happens next, especially when it is revealed that Lord Mansfield is busy deciding on an insurance case involving the drowning of slaves on a cargo ship.

Director Amma Asante is more than capable of keeping the story moving along at a decent pace and tries her best not to paint everything with too heavy a chocolate box brush, but the script lacks the subtlety and wit of the best examples of the genre and ends up feeling like Steven Spielberg's Amistad with a bit of second-rate Jane Austen tossed in.

There's also very little chemistry between Mbatha-Raw's Belle and Reid's Davernier, mostly because the Australian actor seems to be afflicted with one of those speech mannerisms that makes it seem that he's continually on the verge of bursting into tears.

Though it is based on a true story, that can't save the film from falling into the trap of being overbearingly moral at times and far too polite. Sometimes what's needed is a slap in the face to remind the audience that the issues at stake have bigger consequences than just romance.

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