Victoria and Abdul

One of my other writing names is deep into National Novel Writing Month and she/I is also deep into revisions/edits on the manuscript to be published by her new editor at Red Adept Publishing.

To say we (and I mean all the pen names) are overbooked when it comes to hours in the day is an understatement.

Still, the show must go on, and so here I, Caroline Adams, am to put up a small blog post today about a movie in theaters recently.

On this blog, I’ve railed against historical movies that take too many liberties with the truth while leading on the viewing audience who may come away thinking the story they saw was the story that happened. Americans knowledge of history is already shaky. Movie, as I’ve stated before, are making it worse. Victoria and Abdul did not leave me with that feeling.

Right up front on an early screen in the movie, they say something like “a true story-mostly”. See, that’s all it takes. Just acknowledge the movie veers from facts on occasion. Let the audience know that the film was Hollywoodized—because we all do know it—and that you are admitting it. Even I, Ms.-Grumpy-Pants-about-Historical-Movies, was satisfied.

And how could you not love the excellent acting of Judi Dench and Ali Fazal?

Now the onus is on the viewer to go fact checking (which I did) to find out where the veers led and how deep they were. They warned you that you’re not watching a documentary.

What surprised me during fact checking was how close to the known facts (because much was destroyed by the vindictive King Edward after his mother’s death) the movie was. I give the movie kudos, as well, for displaying the overt and covert racism endemic in the English court and society at the time. They did a wonderful job of revealing the callousness and ignorance of such a stance.

Oh, there were many facts glossed over in the movie, like the land Victoria gave Abdul that he expanded so he didn’t die in poverty as the movie suggested. Still, on the whole, the movie replicated much we do know from surviving pictures and documents.

Good for Hollywood! Now, how about that little disclaimer on every historical movie. Keep these good movies as historical movies, not historical fiction.

Facebook: It takes little on the part of #historical movie producers to let the audience know not to view a movie as a history lesson. Victoria and Abdul is a fine example of what to do. http://bit.ly/2zO129X

Twitter: Hollywoodization of #historical movies is standard fare. But one little addition to the film keeps viewers from thinking everything they see is true. #VictoriaandAbdul http://bit.ly/2zO129X