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Director Amma Asante takes a somewhat flourished and hypothesized look at the life of Dido Elizabeth Belle (Gugu Mbatha-Raw), inspired by a famous 1779 painting of her and her cousin Lady Elizabeth Murray (Sarah Gadon). Dido was the half-black daughter of a very rich English Admiral who, despite the mores of the time, decided to legitimize her as his child and left a sizable fortune in her hands.
Of course, this can’t stop racists from being racists, and as she explores outside of her gilded cage (maintained by foster parents Emily Watson and Tom Wilkinson) she discovers a more complex world, and a love decision to be made, between a titled lord from a disdainful family, and a poor idealistic lawyer. All this leads (speculatively) to a courtroom drama that will decide the course of the law as regards to slavery, but that’s neither here nor there….WHO WILL SHE FALL IN LOVE WITH?!? omg.
Chris, Ashley and JC put on their Unusual Suspect caps and ring this Belle.
