Have you heard about the time an odd little Englishman stole a national treasure in exchange for his social rights? That’s exactly the charming premise for the real-life story in The Duke - a bright, strange, and heartwarming new movie now curiously playing.
Having such talented leads as Jim Broadbent and Oscar winner Helen Mirren also helps to elevate small-scale stakes into something worthy for the big screen. What starts as the theft of a painting in a museum wisely becomes about so much more.
The titular "Duke", it turns out, refers to a painting of the Duke of Wellington. This true-story caper recounts the events of writer and political activist and Newcastle-nobody Kempton Bunton (Broadbent) who stole the famous painting in 1961 from the National Gallery in London.
What follows is a madcap ransom, where Kempton only agrees to return the painting if he is exempted from paying a small TV licence fee - until the request escalates to the government’s increased investment into greater care for the common man.
Broadbent is a likeable (if forgivingly hopeless) Kempton, overly invested in his small-town causes to the point of dramatic measures. While Mirren is equally invested in stopping her husband’s crusade as he is at pursuing it, one of the few shortcomings is that she’s given less to do than he is.
Much of the humour is sourced from the fact the English police really couldn’t believe that this “major crime” was done by one doddering old man. Humour also comes from the small details hinted early that later come into play.
Early on, for example, the Bunton family is watching Robin Hood on television, only for Kempton to later quote the show in his ransom notes to the British government. His act of sympathy to a WWI veteran in a taxi is later on revealed to be a driving cause.
It’s an exciting story with a surprising end: just when the trial for the painting’s theft seems a foregone conclusion, there’s a genius twist that only history itself could’ve written. It’s inexplicably funny and brilliant.
One subplot centres on the grief of a lost family member, which too is foreshadowing the sad story outside the production: director Roger Michell (best known for 1999’s Notting Hill with Julia Roberts) died since finishing the film two years ago, meaning he never got to see its release in theatres.
It’s a sincere shame since The Duke might be his most charming, interesting movie since the series that made him famous 30 years ago. It’s undiscovered works of art like this that make movie-going criminally fun.
The Duke
9 out of 10
PG, 1hr 32mins. History Crime Comedy.
Directed by Roger Michell.
Starring Jim Broadbent, Helen Mirren, Fionn Whitehead and Matthew Goode.
Now Playing at Film.Ca Cinemas.
