Film Reviews by HE

I found this drama sad and disappointing. You sort of knew there would be the inevitable culture clash between the Victorian court and the Indian servants & that Victoria and Abdul would hit it off & that it would all end badly. Not to say that the acting wasn't good, it was, and that the costumes and the location & occasional humour weren't appreciated, they were, but I just didn't see it was a piece of history worth making into film drama.

Everything about it is so good: the dialogue by Bill Forsyth shines, the music by Mark Knopfler is knockout, the story, the cast, the setting....it's Scottishness was so on the money...the only bit I find tedious is the psychoanalyst..... it's not really a criticism, just doesn't add anything to the plot in my view.

What a plot, great acting, great writing, loved it. It deserves all the accolades it got. Everyone gets their just deserts-just the poor wife and the boy, who were the most tragic of all; their fate as victims of greed and nastiness really made me sad. I hope it was all a story.....

I thought the suffering of the North American Indians was very well played, historically and from the film's present day context. I found the dialogue difficult to follow so I got lost at times. But the setting was bleakly beautiful, making the events of the film all the more sad and futile.

I was thoroughly involved with the characters in this film and their dilemmas. I found it honest and heartbreaking to watch, another Ken Loach triumph. I dreaded the ending which you kind of anticipated might happen and it did. Thank goodness there were some of the minor characters who were not jobsworths and were there to help, like the food bank staff and the sympathetic staff member in the benefit office; they are out there these kind people. A great piece of work and a lesson for our time.

This was a totally different angle on the fate of the Poles in World War 2. How the zookeepers managed to hide and keep safe that number of Polish Jews from under the noses of the occupiers is astounding. I'm pleased to have seen it, though I don't particularly think it is a brilliant film.