Review:
"The Duke"
![]() Release Date: May 6, 2022
Rating: R Running Time: 96 minutes When he died last year, Notting Hill director Roger Michell left behind two very British projects destined to be watched with a hot cup of tea in one hand and a chocolate digestive biscuit in the other. The upcoming documentary Elizabeth: A Portrait In Part(s) reportedly offers a Platinum Jubilee celebration of Britain’s longest-serving monarch. In contrast, the fact-based The Duke is a gently told but none-the-less unwavering anti-establishment screed masquerading as a Jim Broadbent-Helen Mirren 1960s heist comedy. The Duke remains as steadfast in its desire to see a classless Britain as its unlikely hero of the people, Broadbent’s political campaigner Kempton Bunton. Working from a discerning script by Richard Bean and Clive Coleman that treats with the dignity the otherwise easy-to-ridicule Bunton with dignity, Michell recalls with a light touch the 1961 theft of Francisco de Goya’s Portrait of the Duke of Wellington from the National Gallery in London. In 1965, Bunton returned the Goya, confessed to the theft, and faced criminal charges. His trial ended with a not guilty verdict of pilfering the portrait but he was he found guilty of another charge that very much reflects the absurdly humorous way that the trial plays out in The Duke. Michell presents Bunton as a proudly self-educated working-class World War I veteran with a passion for politics and playwriting. He channels his energy into petitioning the British government to waive the annual TV license fee for seniors. Kempton’s wife Dorothy (Mirren) barely tolerates his one-man campaign, mostly because Kempton’s intolerance for workplace injustices keeps him unemployed for long stretches of time. During a trip to London pitch his plays to the BBC, Kempton visits the National Gallery, only to walk away feeling that the art museum’s expensive acquisition of Goya’s “The Duke of Wellington” was a slap in the face of those barely making a living. While he defeated Napoleon Bonaparte at Waterloo, as Prime Minister, Wellington staunchly opposed parliamentary reform to expand voting rights in England and Wales. (The 1982 Reform Act was eventually passed after Wellington was out of office.) Next thing you know, the Goya’s off the wall of the National Gallery and hidden in the Buntons’ Newcastle house. The Duke positions the theft as a minor political act of defiance designed to draw attention to the plight of the needy. This is made clear during Kempton’s trial, when every hilarious answer he gives in his defense speaks directly or indirectly to the struggle of the working person. Broadbent bring to Kempton a biting wit, an underdog mentality, and an indefatigable fighting spirit. At the same time, neither Broadbent and The Duke depict Kempton as the perfect messenger. He has purpose but is lacking in focus and foresight. He lives in the moment and too often serves as his own worst enemy. More important, he puts himself over his family. Which justifies the frustration Mirren often displays as Kempton’s long-suffering wife Dorothy. That does not mean that Dorothy does not love Kempton for who he is and what he believes in. She just wants him to be more present in their marriage. The Duke frames Kempton’s actions against his marriage to Dorothy, which is not what it once was due to a tragic loss that has turn them into what they are today. Unsurprisingly, the theft of the Goya forces the married couple to reexamine their relationship, which Broadbent and Mirren undertake with a deep level of intimacy. Ultimately, The Duke is as much about the politics of a stalled marriage as it is about the politics of a country built on a suppressive class system. And, through it all, “The Duke of Wellington” looks on with a sense of detachment and a stiff upper lip on full display. Robert Sims Aired: May 5, 2022. Web site: https://www.sonyclassics.com/film/theduke/ |
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