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Scribbles About Movies: Victoria and Abdul

So I recently mentioned that I got my mom a few dvds for Mother's Day... and she loved them by the way! Anyway- the one that was the biggest surprise and the one I thought she would like the most is a movie called Victoria and Abdul. This is a recently discovered story about Queen Victoria befriending an Indian man that was supposed to be a servant of hers. This was when India was under the control of England and Victoria was the Empress of India as well as the Queen of England. Abdul was there to present the queen with a coin as a gift from India to her for being their empress. The queen thought that Abdul was handsome- so someone that worked for the Queen invited Abdul to stay.

Abdul treated the queen differently than everyone else did. He kissed her feet and that sent everyone else into a panic, but Victoria appreciated it. She asked Abdul to teach her his language and he did. And the two became very close and he considered Victoria "The Most Special Person in his life. Even more special than his own wife." To which Victoria said "You have a wife! Bring her over!" And then his wife and mother in law came with him back to the queen and she befriended Abdul's wife as well... it was honestly one of the sweetest stories of friendships you could ever see.

And the beginning of the movie is actually really funny... and it's all very well paced because of that. I didn't think that I would like the movie- this isn't something that I would usually watch- but it was Mother's Day so I watched it and I really, really enjoyed it. There was a scene in the beginning that showed a big dinner that The Queen was having and there were lots of servers there and each one would carry two plates. They would serve The Queen first obviously and when she was done, they would collect everyone's plates whether they had finished or not. So of corse Victoria wolfed down the food and everyone else was upset as their plates were being taken away while they were eating... it was very relatable and funny- even as someone that does not know the queen.

The tone shifted towards the end of the movie where it became very serious. The Queen's family and her workers were all very jealous of Abdul and because he was different than the rest of them they didn't respect him the way that Victoria did. Also Victoria was getting older and weaker... so it was just very sad. I don't want to give too much away of the ending because I feel like I've given away a lot of the plot already... but it is very touching and it will kind of make you angry. Victoria kept referring to her son Bertie, who would take the throne when she had passed as " A complete disappointment" or something like that... and he really was an idiot.

Judi Dench also did a great job playing Victoria. She was very fierce and strong and open in her beliefs... but you could tell that she was still playing a woman that was very weak, angry, sad and close to her death. Ali Fazal who played Abdul did a great job as well, their chemistry together was really great and it just felt natural. And Eddie Izzard played Bertie and I think he did a great job at that too. I think he's a great actor and it's always good to see him in something.

This is all also based on a true story and it was a story only recently discovered. At the end of the movie it is shown that Bertie makes it very difficult for anyone to find out about Abdul and his work with the Queen- but Abdul's personal journals were found in 2010 so that is how they were able to get this story. I think it's fascinating and I would love to know more about it. I might try to see if there are any books or if Abdul's journals were translated or anything... it's really a good story and I want to know as much as I can.

I hope you like this review!

Byeee!
-Shannon

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