Lord Mountbatten:The Last Viceroy is no doubt a very good film by any standards. Seeing that it follows the career of Lord Louis Mountbatten of Burma,later selected as the last viceroy of British India, it has a number of both strengths and flaws as far as the storyline & picturisation is concerned.
STRENGTHS:
1) It portrays the character of Lord Louis from the political side, as far as all the world knows him. 2) Mentions the Nehru - Edwina affair as part of the complications surrounding the partition. 3) Shows the stubburnness of character which Mountbatten possessed.
WEAKNESSES:
1) If it is a film following the life of Lord Mountbatten, why does the story end after the partition. Surely there is much more to Lord Moundbatten's life than just the India-Pakistan partition e.g., his death, his campaign as Supreme Naval Commander of S.E.Asia, how he handled the post of 1st Governor General of India. 2) The cast is superb, yet I fail to understand why Vladek Sheybal (a french guy) was given the role of Jinnah, and why not Alique Padamsee (the guy who played Jinnah in 'Gandhi'. Sheybal has neither the height nor the resemblance of Jinnah. 3) Mountbatten was much more arrogant and hard hearted towards Jinnah and the concept of Pakistan, than this film portrays.
Overall, the story is otherwise well written. But if the script had been written on the basis of Philip Zeigler's biography of Mountbatten, then it would have been much better.
On the whole, its well worth keeping in your collection because as time is passing, there are very few movies depicting the glorious and colourful spleandour of the British Empire.
