Best Movie/Mini-series about the British Empire

[John Drake]

Just screened a few favorites and wondered which of them is the best. Lots of India related ones, such as Jewel in the Crown, The Far Pavilions, Heat and Dust, Passage to India and such. But a few less known were set in our area during the Malayan Emergency, such as The Planter's Wife and The 7th Dawn. Not forgetting The Lives of a Bengal Lancer, either, which, although an American film, probably is more remembered than all of the above.

[Deserted]

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1658557/

 

Very good.

[John Drake]

4 hours ago, Deserted said:

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1658557/

 

Very good.

 

I've heard about it but never seen it. Don't know the 1980s were such a hotbed for empire films and tv. But it was and it was, if not worldwide, at least common in both the UK and US at the same time. Part could be that nostalgia was of the times and in the 1990s immigration transformed both countries, continuing on until today.

[Deserted]

It's a documentary series. You can find it on YouTube. It's cr8tically acclaimed and well worth watching but zI should add it is not a good advert for the British Empire,

[John Drake]

2 hours ago, Deserted said:

but zI should add it is not a good advert for the British Empire,

 

Almost all the 80s films and miniseries were in some way critical of the empire. Even in the Far Pavilions, Ben Cross stopped and gave a sermon against colonialism in the middle of the series. William Holden did likewise in The Seventh Dawn (and indirectly in Bridge on the River Kwai). About the only films overtly cheering for the empire is the above mentioned The Planter's Wife (made in the 50s) and films like North West Frontier (also made in the 50s). The criticism today has become much hotter. Maybe because Hindu nationalism is now stretching its wings.

[Deserted]

Right but its a Channel 4 production. It's not another BBC production intent on glorifying our past. Quite the opposite.

[John Drake]

8 hours ago, Deserted said:

Right but its a Channel 4 production. It's not another BBC production intent on glorifying our past. Quite the opposite.

 

Watched episode 1 about Singapore. Thought it fair. Well done all the way around. Hope the following episodes are as strong. I like these documentaries and their style from the 1970s and 1980s, pre Ken Burns' The Civil War. Startling to realize that the age of the youngest participants during the Fall of Singapore were on that episode approximately the same age as I am today.

[Deserted]

The SIngapore one is quite amusing. The one on Iran is downright shocking.

[xylophone]

50 minutes ago, Deserted said:

The one on Iran is downright shocking.

Where can I watch that please?

[Kinnock]

On 2/13/2024 at 12:27 PM, John Drake said:

 

Almost all the 80s films and miniseries were in some way critical of the empire. Even in the Far Pavilions, Ben Cross stopped and gave a sermon against colonialism in the middle of the series. William Holden did likewise in The Seventh Dawn (and indirectly in Bridge on the River Kwai). About the only films overtly cheering for the empire is the above mentioned The Planter's Wife (made in the 50s) and films like North West Frontier (also made in the 50s). The criticism today has become much hotter. Maybe because Hindu nationalism is now stretching its wings.

Post colonial guilt ... an early form of Wokeness.  

 

Modern India, or should we call it Borat, has benefitted from the Empire days, although most wouldn't admit that.  "What have the English ever done for us"?

[John Drake]

35 minutes ago, xylophone said:

Where can I watch that please?

 

All 14 episodes are on Youtube.

[John Drake]

3 minutes ago, Kinnock said:

Post colonial guilt ... an early form of Wokeness.  

 

Modern India, or should we call it Borat, has benefitted from the Empire days, although most wouldn't admit that.  "What have the English ever done for us"?

 

What I find odd about Hindu India is that it doesn't seem to have the same dislike for  the Moguls that it has for the British. Or does it? Anyway, I would think that a horde of invaders in vastly more numerous numbers who came into your country and forced you to convert to their religion would seem at least as harsh as one that sort of voluntarily went away.

[VocalNeal]

[VocalNeal]

"What have the English ever done for us"?

 

Edited February 15 by VocalNeal

[John Drake]

1 hour ago, VocalNeal said:

 

Don't know that one either. It sounds really very interesting.

[John Drake]

American series from 1960 with Rod Taylor, Hong Kong. 

 

Entire series available at the Internet Archive: https://archive.org/details/hong-kong-

[VocalNeal]

1 hour ago, John Drake said:

 

Don't know that one either. It sounds really very interesting.

 

More of a Jessica Alba chick flick but does show how to learn a foreign language in SE Asia😀