2 & 4PM ET, HBO: 'BELLE' (2013) and 'BESSIE' (2015) Films on the Lives of 2 Remarkable Black Women

[appalachiablue]

Last edited Sat May 30, 2015, 05:22 PM - Edit history (1)

The British film "BELLE" (2013) is a beautifully filmed drama based on the true story of Dido Elizabeth 'Belle' Lindsay, daughter of an 18th century English naval officer and an enslaved African mother in the West Indies. As a small child Dido is brought by her father after her mother's death to the family home Kenwood, in England.

Belle is raised with another young sister-niece, Lady Elizabeth Murray and family members in the household of her prominent great-uncle, William Murray, Lord Mansfield. In 1786 Mansfield, who is Lord Chief Justice of England delivers the ruling decision in the notorious "Zong" slave ship massacre legal case which is seen to have contributed to the abolition of the slave trade in Britain.
Starring talented newcomer beauty Ougu Mbatha-Raw, Tom Wilkinson and Miranda Richardson. Look for HBO repeats.

Film Trailer

BELLE, the Movie site
http://www.belle-themovie.com/#/

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2404181/

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HBO's TV film, 'BESSIE' (2015) is a superbly filmed biopic piece on the life and times of legendary American blues singer Bessie Smith of Tennessee who rose to fame during the Jazz Age of the 1920s and 1930s. The story depicts her artistic success, acclaim in New York City during the Harlem Renaissance and relationships with family and friends like performer Ma Rainey. Singer Bessie's Smith style and success inspired greats Nina Simone and Billie Holiday.

Queen Latifah is outstanding in the starring role, with Michael Kenneth Williams playing her husband and Mo'nique as Ma Rainey. Look for HBO repeats.

Film Trailer

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3704352/

BESSIE, HBO Movie Site
http://www.hbo.com/movies/bessie#/

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/10/arts/television/queen-latifah-stars-in-bessie-on-hbo.html?_r=0




Singer Billie Holiday

[LittleBlue]

1. Belle was decent

Was your typical feel good race movie, but at least it shed light on an interesting historical figure.

From what I gather, Belle's painting still hangs from the walls of Kenwood House, where she grew up

[appalachiablue]

2. The value I see is in bringing out the true story of Dido Belle, those times and the backdrop of the

infamous slave ship "Zong" horror in the Caribbean and it's major court ruling that led to more pressure to abolish the British slave trade growing from the work of MP Wilber Wilberforce, Quakers, Equiano and others and which was finally achieved in 1807. The painting is still at the property I believe, and was once attributed to Zoffany but that's uncertain. Perhaps more will come forth about the life of Dido Belle one day about which too little is known. I've not seen Kenwood House.

[LittleBlue]

3. Good point

Don't want to spoil anything, but yeah it's a great way to show the Zong atrocity

[appalachiablue]

4. That's a good reproduction of the painting, thanks for posting. Would I like to see it but

I don't get too many invites to Kenwood, some place! I heard actor Ben Cumberbatch mention being there in an interview maybe Re the movie "Twelve Years a Slave." That family has long ties to Barbados, the Carib. sugar trade and England with black and white family members all around.
"Bessie" is very well done with fine acting, realistic treatment of life issues and imparts a real feeling for the both the rural south that she came from and the glam of NYC at her height of fame.