To mark the 10th anniversary of the UK release of Amma Asante’s groundbreaking film, Belle, this year and UK Black History Month’s ‘Reclaiming Narratives’ theme, Adama Juldeh Munu examines the film’s impact in opening doors for Black women in British period dramas set in pre-modern times like Bridgerton, Queen Charlotte, and Anne Boleyn, and the case for period dramas that showcase the lives of under-represented individuals.
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“I beg you, uncle, love her….”
“She is Black,”
“She is my blood.”
“But she is Black—a detail you chose not to share with us.”
This dialogue from the opening scenes of Belle is perhaps the most poignant in a film that stands as one of my favorite period dramas. Here, Captain John Lindsay of the British Royal Navy brings a seemingly malnourished mixed-raced girl, dressed in ragged clothes to the home of his aristocratic uncle, Lord Justice Mansfield. Mansfield’s initial response underscores the era’s pervasive racism, where at times, even family ties could not transcend the barriers of race.
This is late 18th century England, at the height of the transatlantic slave trade. Lindsay’s family’s shock and dismay at the fact that their nephew had pre-marital relations with an enslaved African woman is only matched by their surprise at the outcome: a mixed-raced child, who they describe at this moment as ‘negro’ or ‘mulatto’ in the film. The child is one of two nieces taken care of by Mansfield’s family, the other, Elizabeth Murray, is a ‘white English rose’ by comparison.
Belle, directed by Amma Asante, is a historical drama released in 2014, inspired by the true story of that little girl, Dido Elizabeth Belle, and it charts her upbringing under Mansfield, the most senior court judge in England at the time. But even though Belle (played by Gugu Mbatha Raw) enjoys the privileges of nobility, the film shows how Belle’s race, gender, and status as an out-of-wedlock child opened her up to racial prejudice, misogyny, and quiet ridicule. Belle has been celebrated for its nuanced portrayal of an African-descended woman navigating the limitations of British society.
Today, we now know that it won’t be the last time we’ll watch a portrayal of this kind because of more recent period dramas such as Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story (2023) and The Woman King (2022). Amma Asante has gone on to produce other period dramas that celebrate the Black-European experience such as A United Kingdom (2016), another biographical film based on the true-life romance of Seretse Khama, heir to the throne of the Bangwato Tribe in Serowe, modern-day Botswana, with his British wife Ruth Williams Khama. It looks at how their marriage put his kingdom into political and diplomatic turmoil. And then there’s the controversial Where Hands Touch (2018) which is set in Nazi Germany and tells the story of mixed-raced girl Leyna and Lutz, a German soldier from the Hitler Youth.
For someone who grew up …read more
Source:: Refinery29
