Tag: Judi Dench

Red Joan

Posted on by victorfraga

Red is bad. Red Joan, Red Ken, you name it. This is the colour with which you do not wish to have associated in the UK and in many countries of the Western world. The prejudices associated with communism are enormous. Russophobia still dominates our headlines. The lingering fear of Marxism – particularly in a country that never saw a major popular revolution – pesters both the economic and the political establishments. The leftwing ideology is plain evil, and it must not be tolerated. So what better way to defame someone?

Joan Stanley (Judi Dench) is an OAP living somewhere in suburban Britain in the year 2000, in a middle class dwelling. One day the MI5 knock at her door and arrest her. They claim that she had affiliations with Soviet sympathisers while studying in Cambridge in the late 1930s, and that she provided classified material in the 1940s while working in a laboratory to the communist regime, enabling Stalin to create his very own atomic weaponry. Such crime constitutes treason. She denies her crime, but her the information held by the MI5 reveal a very different picture. The media immediately label her: “Red Joan”.

We travel back in time to 1938 and see a young Joan (now played by Sophie Cookson) infatuated with a man called Leo (Tom Hughes), who happens to be of Russian origin. The war breaks out. Joan now works in a laboratory working hard in order to develop an atomic bomb ahead of the enemies (the Nazis and the communists). She begins a relationship with the leading scientist. The Americans bomb Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The unforeseen dimensions of the atomic bomb shock Joan profoundly, triggering her to disclose scientific information to the Soviets. She leverages sexism to her advantage (ie. no one at the time would assume that a woman could be cunning enough to become a spy). Joan has a very peculiar motivation. She believe that if the Soviets too have access to such destructive technology, they would be on an equal footing, and war could be averted. And she was right.

Cinematographically speaking, Red Joan is not a dirty movie. It’s rather formulaic and conventional, an average spy drama doused in saccharine and filled with two half-baked romances (with Leo and with the scientist, pictured above and below respectively). On the other hand, Red Joan contains a very urgent message that world peace must prevail above national allegiances, and that nationalism can be an arrogant and exclusionary notion. This is a refreshing statement, particularly when a lot of mainstream movies re infested with both subtle and not-so-subtle messages of tub-thumbing nationalism and anti-European resentment. Back to the year 2000, Joan’s son repeatedly scorns his own mother for her lack of patriotism without any regard to her genuinely noble intentions.

The filmmaker Trevor Nunn took a lot of artistic freedoms. The film is inspired by the true story of Melita Norwood, who was uncovered in 1999. It is said that the Soviets valued her more than the Cambridge Five. Melita did indeed supply such classified material to the Soviets, but she did not do this guided by the principle of world peace. She was indeed a devout communist. In her own words: “I did what I did, not to make money, but to help prevent the defeat of a new system which had, at great cost, given ordinary people food and fares which they could afford, a good education and a health service”.Still, I’m satisfied that the director twisted Melita’s motive for noble and necessary reasons. We desperately world peace and individual actions to prevail above national interests. One woman/man can indeed make a difference.

Red Joan is out in cinemas across the UK on Friday, April 19th.

All is True

Posted on by victorfraga

While it is known that in 1613 Shakespeare returned from London to his birthplace, Stratford-upon-Avon following the destruction by fire of his theatre, the Globe, there is no record of this period. Ben Elton, the scriptwriter, has created a touching evocation of this time, focusing on Shakespeare’s efforts to rebuild his relationships with his wife, Anne, and his two grown-up daughters, Judith and Susanna.

The central parts are played by actors famously distinguished for their work in Shakespearean drama, Judi Dench, Ian McKellen and Kenneth Branagh, who also directs the film. Each one of them a national treasure per se. In the depth of their portrayal of the characters, they succeed in presenting a rich family narrative much affected by the strong influence of the provincial values of the time. Shakespeare (Branagh) carries the stigma of his father’s poor management of money. The women of the family reveal the effect of discrimination against women. His wife Anne (Dench) is unable to read or write and their daughters are also denied education only available to boys.

While Shakespeare argues that he has done well by the family, ensuring that they have a lovely home and the financial means to enjoy their lives, the sense that the family left in Stratford felt abandoned is confronted. What hangs over them all is the death of Judith’s twin Hamnet some years earlier, at the age of just 11. This provides the central thread of the film. The background to the early death of Shakespeare’s only male heir is sensitively explored and allows for the development of changed relationships within the family. Gender, religion and social status all play a part.

One episode dwells on a meeting with the Earl of Southampton (McKellenn) who had travelled to see Shakespeare. The affection and mutual respect which they hold for each other does not prevent the Earl pointing up the social distance which exists, despite Shakespeare’s attempt to address the problem by buying his own coat of arms.

The production values are outstanding, as is the costume design. The interiors reflect the darkness of the period – the sitting room heated by a brightly burning log fire and illuminated by many candles. Wooden floors accentuate the sound of people moving about. The enclosed interiors contrast with rural landscapes and cloudscapes which provide the backdrop to Shakespeare’s efforts to create a garden in his son’s memory.

The pace of the narrative is rather slow, as befits a study of a man in the final phase of his life. For those familiar with the plays, identifying the source of the quotes which Branagh incorporates in his dialogue adds to the enjoyment of the film, but familiarity with Shakespeare’s plays is not essential to enjoying the film.

All is True is out in cinemas across the UK on Friday, February 8th. On Netflix on Sunday, January 3rd.

Victoria & Abdul

Posted on by victorfraga

Humanising a character sounds almost like a redundancy, after all we are all human beings. All seven billion of us even. Yet when it comes to a British monarch, humanisation does not happen by default. A British monarch is unelected, above the law and protocol mandates that poor mortals like you and me should not even to touch their body. Plus, they are the head of the Church of England, bestowing upon them some divine-like quality. The biggest achievement of Stephen Frears’s Victoria & Abdul is to humanise a borderline godlike figurehead like Queen Victoria, and in a very credible way.

Stephen Frears is in his comfort zone. Here he blends message of tolerance from from My Beautiful Laundrette (1985) and Dirty Pretty Things (2002) with the regal country seen in The Queen (2006).

The film opens up with a cheeky “based on real events… mostly“, giving away the film’s poetical licence straight away. No one knows how much of that really happened and how much was concocted by Stephen Frears. And that’s ok because he’s not purporting to rewrite history. Instead, he intends to convey a message of kindness and racial tolerance, devoid of imperialistic undertones. To boot, he does not celebrate a belligerent British establishment like other films such as this one do. Frears is not nostalgic of imperialism. Instead, Abdul’s father cries out loud: “take your British Empire and stick it up your stinky bottoms”.

The movie tells the story of the deeply affectionate relationship between Queen Victoria (with the usually impeccable performance by Dame Judi Dench, a film royalty herself) and her Indian spiritual guide (munshi) Abdul Karim (Ali Fazal). They first met as Abdul travelled to the UK in order to hand a present to Her Majesty, who was also the Empress of India at the time. He broke protocol by making eye contact, and Queen Victoria immediately became very fond of the tall and attractive young man. By the way: protocol has since been relaxed and if you ever meet Queen Elizabeth it’s deemed as acceptable to make eye contact – phew!!!.

Abdul first arrived in the UK in 1887 and remained extremely close to the Queen until her death in the turn of the century. His mere presence was a transgression in so many levels. Firstly, he was a commoner (which is only revealed at a later stage to the Queen, who initially believed that he came from a noble background). Secondly, he was a Muslim (at first, the Queen believed that Muslims were very sympathetic to the British Empire, and she was horrified to find out that a fatwa for her very own head had been issued). Thirdly, and far more seriously: he was BROWN. To the dismay of her eldest son Bertie (who later became King Edward VII) and her entire court, whom Queen Victoria described as “racialists”.

Queen Victoria is the least formal person in Buckingham Palace, it’s soon clear. She eats with her hands, sleeps halfway through official ceremonies. She is also very uneducated, with a very limited knowledge of British history (she knew almost nothing about the Indian Mutiny of 1857-58). And now, to top it all up, she has an brown spiritual guide by her side almost full time, who is also teaching her the exotic Urdu language and manuscripts. In many ways, this Queen Victoria is the antithesis of what a British monarch should be. And it’s very touching to see her behaving so humanly. After all, British monarchs are not meant to behave like normal human beings.

Victoria and Abdul is also a very funny and witty film, with plenty of subtle comments on tolerance (or rather on the British inability to embrace it at the time). The court’s reaction to Abdul’s burka-clad wife and mother-in-law arriving in the UK are particularly amusing and symbolic of such failure (to embrace tolerance). And the moment Victoria asks his wife to remove the burka only to reveal a chubby and good-looking woman with a coy smile and beautiful ornaments (including a nose ring) debunks myths surrounding the controversial garment.

Judi Dench’s performance combined with excellent make-up also help to make this a very effective film. We see an increasingly frail and vulnerable human succumbing to senescence. Queen Victoria regrets her longevity, which she perceives as a curse. I wonder whether Queen Elizabeth feels the same.

Victoria and Abdul is out in cinemas across the UK on Friday, September 15th. Not to be missed by both monarchists and republicans alike (I belong to the latter category). On Netflix on January 21st, 2023. Also available on other platforms.