I thought it was a good movie. Gugu Mbatha-Raw did a good job of playing a fish out of water. A black child born of noble blood too good for the other blacks but not good enough for the whites. The film did a good job of showing her confusion over the whole thing.
The movie also does a good job telling a story about Society in General. On top of having to deal with being black in a noble white world, she had to deal with the crap that noble white woman had to go through back in the day, namely marrying rich. A complication for Belle as her dark skin makes her unwanted, not by the men. All except that blonde kid from Harry Potter whose getting type cast as the bad guy in this film, was into the "exotic" belle, but in a time where people did not marry for love, Belle's suitor in the film had to consider his family who thought they were doing her a favor by allowing their least worthy son to purpose to her.
The worst part of the film was the fact that this entire story is laid out in the trailer so well you don't have to see the movie to know what's going to happen, but the movie does have an interesting side story about a court case in which slave masters killed their slaves for insurance money. Belle's love interest who loves her unconditionally, but because he's common, is unworthy of her, is fighting to make sure the courts realize what the slave masters did was inhumane, while Belle's uncle, the man who raised her like a daughter, is the judge who must decide if what he says has any clout. For me this was the story really worth seeing, but was not developed enough to be anything.
It was an interesting story, based on a true one, just as much about social class as it is race issues. I did enjoy it for what it was.
The movie also does a good job telling a story about Society in General. On top of having to deal with being black in a noble white world, she had to deal with the crap that noble white woman had to go through back in the day, namely marrying rich. A complication for Belle as her dark skin makes her unwanted, not by the men. All except that blonde kid from Harry Potter whose getting type cast as the bad guy in this film, was into the "exotic" belle, but in a time where people did not marry for love, Belle's suitor in the film had to consider his family who thought they were doing her a favor by allowing their least worthy son to purpose to her.
The worst part of the film was the fact that this entire story is laid out in the trailer so well you don't have to see the movie to know what's going to happen, but the movie does have an interesting side story about a court case in which slave masters killed their slaves for insurance money. Belle's love interest who loves her unconditionally, but because he's common, is unworthy of her, is fighting to make sure the courts realize what the slave masters did was inhumane, while Belle's uncle, the man who raised her like a daughter, is the judge who must decide if what he says has any clout. For me this was the story really worth seeing, but was not developed enough to be anything.
It was an interesting story, based on a true one, just as much about social class as it is race issues. I did enjoy it for what it was.