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Costume dramas about British monarchs are like a sub-genre of their own. Now we get one on the early life of Queen Victoria, the longest reining British royal to date. Director Jean-Marc Vallee has two themes running simultaneously. One is of political intrigue and the other is a love story. The latter works very well, especially thanks to its two lead actors.

As a girl, Victoria (Emily Blunt, THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA) didn’t even know that she was next in line for the throne following the death of her uncle King William (Jim Broadbent, BRIDGET JONES’S DIARY). Her mother the Duchess of Kent (Miranda Richardson, SPIDER) has her secluded from court, as well as other children. She says that even a palace can be a prison. The Duchess is being manipulated by Sir John Conroy (Mark Strong, STARDUST), who spent years making Victoria dependent so she would make her mother the Regent, in turn giving him the power of a royal, until Victoria turned 21. Victoria refused.
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When he was young, Sacha Gervasi was a roadie for the metal band Anvil. He would later go on to write Stephen Spielberg’s THE TERMINAL. Now he returns to Anvil for this rock documentary that is like THIS IS SPINAL TAP meets AMERICAN MOVIE.

Steve “Lips” Kudlow and Robb Reiner have been playing metal together since they were 14 years old. Now in their 50s, they’re still at it, trying to recapture the 15 minutes of fame they had in the 1980s. The doc begins with rock stars like Guns ‘n Roses’ Slash and Metallica’s Lars Ulrich explaining how influential the band was; fortune just didn’t shine on them. In between shows at bars, Lips works as a truck driver at the Children’s Choice Catering, while Reiner works in construction.
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Rachid Bouchareb’s drama tells another under-reported chapter of World War II. This Oscar-nominated film tells the story of Northern African soldiers who fought on the side of France. They fought for patriotism and respect. They were treated like dogs sent out to attack an armed intruder. If they survived, the best they received were straps and a pat on the head for their sacrifice.

Abdelkader (Sami Bouajila) passed a test and was given the rank of corporal. He’s put in charge of a band of other African soldiers. Said (Jamel Debbouze, AMELIE) is an illiterate Algerian man who becomes a lacky for French sergeant Roger Martinez (Bernard Blancan), who is the only person of importance to ever pay attention to him. Their relationship provides him privilege with the French officers, but scorn from the Africans. Turns out he’s not as big a push over as he appears to be. Messaoud Souni (Roschdy Zem, THE GIRL FROM MONACO) is a tall, imposing man who becomes the troupe’s sharpshooter. He has a French girl named Irene (Aurelie Eltvedt) in Marseille. He believes she is waiting for him, but then her letters never come. Yassir (Samy Naceri) and Larbi (Asaad Bouab) are brothers from Morocco, who are simply in the army to make some money. They aren’t below stealing from corpses, but these Muslims draw the line at churches.
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