Huievest Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

Grimossfer Clever and entertaining enough to recommend even to members of the 1%

Roy Hart If you're interested in the topic at hand, you should just watch it and judge yourself because the reviews have gone very biased by people that didn't even watch it and just hate (or love) the creator. I liked it, it was well written, narrated, and directed and it was about a topic that interests me.

Quiet Muffin This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

Ian (Flash Review)The movie opens up as if you are opening a text book as high doses of information are evenly parsed out. Only later does the text begin to fly off the page as the drama ratchets up. This tells the history, from the British perspective, of the state of India during the end of British rule over their land. A political debate revolves around if India will remain united or will it be "partitioned" or split up with Pakistan as its own country and the film focuses on the Viceroy's role in the process. (Viceroy = the British representative ruler over the Indian nation.) Everyone knows Pakistan is a country so the interesting part is seeing the tension and the high risk ramifications of various decisions. Such as a massive expanse of people and families being relocated as well as the cultural reshaping and restructuring with regard to Muslim and Indian cultures. The movie was nicely shot, well-acted, informative and the British do not appear to be truly hated by the Indian people. It was an easy watch with in-depth look into this slice of history. Yet didn't have the raw drama and for a full emotional involvement.

tomsview "Viceroy's House" is nothing less than fascinating. It was a stroke of genius to set the story around the upstairs and downstairs life in the palace of the last Viceroy during the time India gained independence from Britain, occasioning the largest migration in human history.The film allows for the historical canvas to be set alongside the more intimate story of how it impacted the lives of ordinary Indians.In 1947 Lord Louis Mountbatten (Hugh Bonneville) received what seemed like the hospital pass of all time when he was appointed to overseer the transition of power from the British Raj to an independent Indian government.Mountbatten is portrayed as well-intentioned, although somewhat naive, but is shown to have the support of a warm, capable woman, his wife Edwina (Gillian Anderson). While he deals with the leading players: Nehru, Jinna and Ghandi, the mainly Indian staff is buffeted by the decisions that affect hundreds of millions of Indians.Two members of the household staff, Jeet (Manash Dayal), a Hindu, and the woman he loves, Aalia (Humar Qureshi), a Muslim, represent the divide that becomes the stumbling block to negotiations. Eventually the country is partitioned into Pakistan and India and Jeet and Aalia are separated."Viceroy's House" is well made; the scenes above and below stairs have the ring of authenticity, but it's a film that needed some jaw dropping spectacle; documentary footage is used, but there is nothing to compare to that stunning funeral scene in Richard Attenborough's "Ghandi".Some of the greatest films of all time have intimate love stories played out against the backdrop of awesome historical events; "Gone with the Wind" and "Doctor Zhivago" come to mind; both had powerful endings.However, in this case, the filmmakers opted for an ending that tended to undermine the terrific build up in the rest of the film. A happy ending? The filmmakers blinked. They just couldn't let Aalia disappear in that train massacre like Lara disappeared into the labour camp at the end of "Zhivago", something that would have reflected the real fate of millions.Sam Goldwyn once said that it is the last 5 minutes of a film that makes it memorable. "Viceroy's House", has a brilliant premise and some strong scenes, but just fails at the end to leave the audience sitting stunned in their seats after the curtains have closed.

robertepay The film is beautifully acted and a good sub-plot revolving around staff in the viceroy's house. However, the central conceit of the movie is complete rubbish (plot spoiler averted)...The film, unwittingly or deliberately, robs the Indians and Pakistanis of any agency in their own fate when, in fact, I-Congress and Jinnah made nearly all the running on what happened at partition. The potential for terrible violence between the two main religious communities was always present in India and not a cunning ruse by the imperial government or the Mughals before them. Less painful to blame third parties...Anyway, the history aside this is a very well put together movie. It would have got 9 stars if it had not played so fast and loose with the truth, which matters if we are to deal with the hurts of the world.

jdesando "Our time frame for leaving won't work!" Lady Mountbatten (Gillian Anderson) Some would say the final partition of India creating Pakistan never worked, albeit a solution to the violence between Muslims, Hindus, and Sikhs was needed with the pending quitting of Britain from rule in 1947. The historical and humane Viceroy's House takes us nimbly yet sometimes brutally through the Solomon-like assignment of Lord Mountbatten (Hugh Bonneville) to bring peace and partition.Although this fascinating film could be accused of being more Masterpiece Theater than history, it brings home in the best period-piece fashion the almost insoluble task of stopping the fighting among factions and fairly apportioning the sub-continent. Mahatma Gandhi's (Neeraj Kabi) opposition, as he favored a unified continent, was the counterbalance to the raw pain of partition but unrealistic given the prevailing hostilities. The film does not oppressively dwell on the philosophy or the brutality: They are just there as if they always were.Helping the transition is A. R. Rahman's musical score appropriately classical and grave at times and then lightly Indian as the time draws near. Viceroy's House has a workman-like period piece feel to it. It also has a soap-opera like romance between Muslim Aalia (Huma Qureshi) and Hindu Jeet (Manish Dayal), an attempt to provide a figurative representation of the cultural clashes borne of tradition and the impending upending with Britain's leaving.The spiritual presence of Churchill, who ended up being the actual architect of the partition, left an independent Mountbatten to come to Churchill's solution without even knowing about it. The various bloody factions are well-perceived as unavoidable given the massive population and the complex challenges of partition.The oil and coastal-protecting motives are there in muted acknowledgment of the inevitable political background of the largest mass movement of human beings in history. Here is a history worth knowing if only to clarify the prevailing hostility between India and Pakistan and the allure Pakistan has for trouble-prone world powers.If for nothing else, enjoy the period costumes and settings. Downton Abbey would approve.