Directed by:
Roger MichellCinematography:
Mike EleyComposer:
George FentonCast:
Jim Broadbent, Helen Mirren, Fionn Whitehead, Anna Maxwell Martin, Matthew Goode, Jack Bandeira, Aimée Kelly, Charlotte Spencer, Sian Clifford (more)Plots(1)
The Duke is set in 1961 when Kempton Bunton (Jim Broadbent), a 60-year old taxi driver, stole Goya’s portrait of the Duke of Wellington from the National Gallery in London. It was the first (and remains the only) theft in the Gallery’s history. Kempton sent ransom notes saying that he would return the painting on condition that the government agreed to provide television for free to the elderly. What happened next became the stuff of legend. Only 50 years later did the full story emerge – a startling revelation of how a good man set out to change the world and in so doing saved his son (Fionn Whitehead) and his marriage to Dorothy Bunton (Helen Mirren). (Sony Pictures Home Entertainment)
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Reviews (2)
I have a soft spot for these kinds of British stories. What could be a completely local, uninteresting tale is given that quintessentially British charm that keeps you engaged from start to finish. Jim Broadbent in the lead role exudes confidence and uses it to full effect, effortlessly stealing the show. His absurd approach to life creates a story that only the Brits could dream up. Overall, it's a delightful film, capped off with a little nod that will please any James Bond fan.
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It's one of those cute British pictures, like a porcelain dog with a pipe, sitting in a rocking chair. Lovely for the mantlepiece, makes for a good mood and a feeling of home for a while, but forgettable. They made the main character and his family too slick for my taste. A bunch of cute little creatures, local goofballs, friendly fools who are like children. Their purity sheds light on our distorted and hard world. It's clichéd, it's trite, and I don't think the protagonist's image of himself as a local hero would agree with such a portrayal. Or at least, I hope so. I hope he get a restraining order forbidding them to portray him as an impractical knucklehead who might be right about something, but otherwise we have every right to look down on him. IN A NUTSHELL: How to fight the system when no one even notices you're fighting.
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