Wednesday, March 15, 2023, 7:30 p.m., Dryden Theatre
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Belle (2013)
(Amma Assante, UK 2013, 100 min., DCP)
Inspired by Johann Zoffany’s 18th century painting of Dido Elizabeth Belle and Elizabeth Murray, director Amma Assante fills in the details of this fascinating life, lived over two centuries ago. Dido was the daughter of Navy Captain Sir John Lindsay and a slave he met after the capture of a Spanish ship. The film begins as Lindsay takes Dido to his family home after her mother has died. He implores the family to take her in and raise her as his own, but British society has other ideas as Belle and her family deal with education, courtship, and human rights, including the landmark Zong massacre case which Belle’s grandfather, Lord Mansfield, adjudicates.