The Duke is directed by the late Roger Michell and stars Jim Broadbent as Kempton Bunton an old age pensioner in Newcastle, England in 1961 who is actively campaigning for free TV licenses for pensioners and war widows feeling it to be unjust to be paying for the BBC and then needing a licence to have a television to watch it so he decided to steal the portrait of the Duke of Wellington now on display in London but keeping it from his wife (Helen Mirren) will not be easy.
The Duke is a really good time at the movies and it was one that I enjoyed watching quite a bit and a lot of that comes down to Jim Broadbent firstly, he continues to be a loveable and affable screen presence and the moral conviction he displays in this role gets you on his side almost right away whether it be standing up for others, fighting for free TV licenses or making people laugh in the court.
Secondly I found myself very interested in the overall storytelling being told here now in Australia we haven’t had TV Licenses here for a very long time (the NFSA has done a great story on this here: https://www.nfsa.gov.au/latest/radio-and-tv-licences) and I didn’t even know the UK had had them and still do to this day despite TV being as much a hub for gaming and streaming as it is for overall channel watching so to see a story like this being told in a fun way by Michell was quite good and there are also some fun references to 60s movies in some of the editing.
Also the film has a good cast outside of Broadbent and Mirren, Fionn Whitehead from Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk is very good as their son as is Matthew Goode as Kempton’s lawyer in court and I also enjoyed Jack Bandeira as the Bunton’s older son Kenny.
And so that was the Duke and sadly this would be Roger Michell’s final film before his passing last year but he left behind a worthy finale to his career with this film and its well worth a watch if you get the chance, 4 out of 5.
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