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For the last few weeks, millions of people have been tuning in to watch a Hollywood court case that sometimes seems stranger than fiction. The Duke tells the story of another real trial—one from 60 years ago—that quickly spiraled out of control, thanks to its lovably determined defendant.
The Duke stars Jim Broadbent as Kempton Bunton, a taxi driver and amateur playwright who, in 1961, finds himself on trial for the theft of Goya’s portrait of the Duke of Wellington, which was taking from London’s National Gallery. Kempton has always stood up for those who couldn’t stand up for themselves—immigrants, the working class, the elderly—much to the dismay of his straight-laced wife, Dorothy (Helen Mirren). When he discovered that the government spent ₤140,000 on the painting, he was outraged—so he decided to hold the painting for ransom to support his latest cause.
Kempton’s story is definitely an unbelievable one. While the authorities brought in every kind of investigator and profiler imaginable, no one suspected that the thief was some lovable nobody on a mission. It’s really quite fascinating—and it’s made all the more entertaining by its remarkable cast.
Jim Broadbent couldn’t possibly be better as this outrageously charming working class hero. Kempton is a guy who always has a pet cause—like his outrage over the law requiring households to have a television license. He’s the kind of guy that most people would dread meeting in person: the chatty cab driver, the guy who’d talk your ear off while waiting in line at the store or while sitting next to you on a plane. Yet Broadbent manages to make him less irritating and more lovably quirky. And he’s absolutely dedicated to his beliefs.
Helen Mirren, meanwhile, is just as perfectly cast as his blunt and disapproving wife—the one who quietly trudges off to work each day, who tries to keep their sons in line, who buys the TV license when her husband won’t. She balances out her husband’s eccentricities while trying to hold in her own feelings.
Together with the playful period touches and lively score, Mirren and Broadbent make such and entertaining pair—and they bring so much personality to this stranger-than-fiction story.
Crazier than the usual heist movie and more outrageous than the typical court drama, The Duke is one wildly entertaining true story. It’s just the comedic romp that viewers need after spending too long watching that other courtroom circus.
The Duke arrives in theaters on May 6, 2022.
Listen to the review on Reel Discovery:
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