Viceroy's House

Though I've been researching the end of the British Empire to a degree, and in primary school I did a little project on Pakistan, I must say that I had little real understanding of the complexities of why partition had to happen and what kind of pressure Mountbatten was under to make a decision that could never please everyone. 

This movie does a very nice job of framing the key debates of post-war India, not only having the key leaders of the communities debating with Mountbatten himself, but several microcosms to help humanise the consequences of such a momentous event as splitting a country with a very long history into two. Three later on, of course. 

These human stories are the most interesting. Central is a love story between a young Hindu boy and Muslim girl. Not only is she betrothed to another, but partition will mean she has to move far away and cannot break off her engagement. These characters are sympathetic and their stories touched by conflict as well as romance. Then there's Lady Mountbatten (Gillian Anderson in a posh version of her British accent), who tries her best to understand the Indians on a personal level that the likes of Churchill never understood, but sometimes being hopelessly out of touch in trying to change everything on a whim. There's the satisfying twist of Mountbatten being an appeasing puppet and just filling in a predetermined path devised with much more cynical rationale than Mountbatten’s. 

The performances here are superb, especially the actor portraying young Hindu boy Jeet, Manish Dayal, who deserves to go on to greater and greater things. I see he’s current in Agents of SHIELD, which is a nice start. It's great to have a light shone on the things that still determine geopolitical relationships even after the passing of Empire. The salient point that the terrible violence was indirectly the result of British divide and rule policies is stated, which is good for cinemagoers to hear and discuss - was it all calculated by cruel imperialists who thrived on the deaths of others or can there be nobody to blame for the leap from division to hatred and lawless slaughter but the perpetrators themselves? All well worth considering especially as nationalism and xenophobia and the demonization of the old white patriarchy rises, and division with it. 

I shall have to look up the historical accuracy of this film. But it was certainly a great starting point for further research, a beautifully acted piece from an Indian director about India, and a chance to learn from the past no matter your background.