Belle – reviews of 'rousing' period drama about slavery

Gugu Mbatha-Raw is 'radiant' in handsome historical drama about the anti-slavery movement

Belle

What you need to knowBritish period drama Belle opens in UK cinemas today. The film, directed by Amma Asante, is inspired by the true story of Dido Elizabeth Belle, a mixed race woman thought to have influenced the abolitionist movement in England.

Gugu Mbatha-Raw stars as Belle, the illegitimate mixed-race daughter of a navy officer, raised as an aristocrat by her uncle Lord Mansfield, the Lord Chief Justice. Dido begins a relationship with a young lawyer and abolitionist that influences her uncle's decision in a case that will advance the anti-slavery cause. With Tom Wilkinson and Emily Watson.

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