New Zealand Listener – August 24, 2019

AUGUST 24 2019 LISTENER 69

SATURDAY AUGUST 25

Belle (Māori TV, 8.30pm). A

film inspired by a painting,

in which writer Misan Sagay

and director Amma Asante

weave together the story of

the real Dido Elizabeth Belle

(Gugu Mbatha-Raw, in a

delicate performance) and an

important ruling by her guard-

ian, the Lord Chief Justice of

England (Tom Wilkinson), that

could forever change the slave

trade. Born in the West Indies,

Dido was the acknowledged

illegitimate daughter of Sir

John Lindsay, who asked his

uncle to raise her. However,

her position is a strange one,

throwing into stark relief the

crazy rules of rank and class in

18th-century England. A por-

trait of Dido and her cousin,

Elizabeth Murray, in which

they are depicted as equals,

today hangs at Scone Palace in

Scotland. (2013)

The Matrix Reloaded (TVNZ

2, 8.35pm). More cool fight

scenes (choreographed by the

legendary Yuen Woo-ping),

but a lot of stodgy metaphysics

exposition: there’s a keymaker,

an architect, a source and the

revelation that Neo is not the

first. It’s a grab-bag of mytho-

logical allusion – Greek, Nordic

and biblical – which perhaps

won’t faze readers of Alan

Moore, but is wearying in an

action movie. (2003)

Let’s Be Cops (Three, 8.55pm).

Not a bad idea, but stretched

way too thin, to the point

of “please get me out of this

movie” thin. New Girl’s Jake

Johnson and Damon Wayans

Jr are buddies who wear cop

uniforms to a fancy dress

party and are taken for the real

thing. Shenanigans follow, up

to and including stumbling

across the secret lair of an

Albanian gang. The movie

has a solid 19% on Rotten

Tomatoes, but still made $214

million at the box office.

(2014)

A Guide to the Week’s Viewing

TV Films

Belle, Saturday.

by FIONA RAE