Belle.

Scone Palace is one of the finest examples of late Georgian Gothic style in the UK and is the family home of the earls of Mansfield whose family name is Murray and who still reside in the Palace apartments for part of the year. In the Ambassadors Room in the Palace you will find a painting commissioned by William Murray the 1st Earl of Mansfield, who was at the time Lord Chief Justice of England. The painting by Johann Zoffany is of two young female members of William Murray's family. One of which is Lady Elizabeth Murray daughter of David Murray the 2nd Earl of Mansfield the other, more interestingly is Dido Elizabeth Belle. Born in the West Indies she was the illegitimate mixed race daughter of Williams’s nephew Sir John Lindsay who acknowledged her as his daughter and took her to the family home at Kenwood House in North London and begged his Uncle and Aunt to take her in to their guardianship. He died shortly after.

 

The original main entrance to Scone Palace.

The film stars, amongst others, the British born stage and screen actress Gugo Mbatha-Raw as Belle, Tom Wilkinson as William Murray, Emily Watson as his wife, Matthew Goode as John Lindsay and Sarah Gabon as Dido's cousin Lady Elizabeth Murray.

 

Scone Palace.

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Very little is known about the life of Dido Elizabeth Belle but to their great credit writer Moissen Sagay and director Amma Asante manage to weave an enjoyable and moving story based around the famous painting. Period dramas are not always my thing but the story of Belle (2014) has a certain depth because its based on true events about the emancipation of slaves and the 18th century social order of wealth and privilege as well as benefiting from a social consciousness.

The Debt.

Directed by John Madden, who was responsible for the condescending The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2012), with a screen play part written my Matthew Vaughn and Jane Goodman, who had previously collaborated together on Stardust (2007) Kick Ass (2010) and X Men: First Class (2011) The Debt (2011) is based on an Israeli film of the same name. Both films centre on the Israeli Institute for Intelligence and Special Operations better known as Mossad, an organization that carries out covert operations all over the world, who in the 1960’s captured a notorious Nazi doctor who it is alleged carried out human experimentation in Nazi concentration camps. When the prisoner escapes its reported that he had been killed and his body disposed of. A great deal of kudos is given to the team for their work but in the late 1990’s it’s discovered that the ‘Surgeon of Birkenau’ (played with sinister realism by Jasper Christensen) could still be alive. 

Helen Mirren, Ciaran Hinds and Tom Wilkinson play the 1990’s version of the Mossad team far more convincingly that their 1965 counterparts Jessica Chastain, Marton Csokas and a rather miscast Sam Worthington. This is a very straightforward thriller where everything is sign posted in advance and therefore lacks any real tension or suspense. Personally I referred Norman Jewison’s The Statement (2003) that covered a lot of the same ground and was far more entertaining.