The true story that inspired The Man Who Would Be King
2021-08-27
N/A
101 min
Sarawak, in the northeast of the island of Borneo, 1839. Almost by chance, the British adventurer James Brooke is appointed rajah by the Sultan of Brunei, and as an independent ruler he embarks on a personal crusade to eradicate piracy, slavery and headhunting, while trying to curb the malevolent expansionist ambitions of the British Empire.
I used to collect coins and always remember the Sarawak ones with "J. Brooke - Rajah" on them. Well this is a story of that very man. At the height of British colonial expansion, James Brooke (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) arrives in a land terrorised by marauding pirates with Col. Cruikshank (Dominic Monaghan) and his enthusiastic young cousin Charley (Otto Farrant) where they are quickly embroiled in the political and murderous machinations of the manipulative Prince Mahkota (Bront Palarae) and of his more benign cousin Prince Badruddin (Samo Rafael). What now ensues is actually quite a decent jungle adventure that looks at just how this man, steeped in British ambitious and aspirations gradually went native. He wanted to stop the piracy and the atrocities carried out on this remote and superstitious island, but as much for the sake of the local population. Indeed history tells us, and this film illustrates quite well, that he frequently crossed the wishes of the London government and often found himself vulnerable to attack from within and overseas. JRM isn't a good actor, sorry, but here he has a stronger character to represent and he fares OK. The young Rafael also delivers well as the young prince with a much older head on his shoulders, and Hannah New is effective as the rather pompous "Elizabeth" who meets her match in the feisty princess "Fatima" (Atiqah Hasiholan). There's a bit too much dialogue and the acting, by and large, isn't really very good or natural looking, but this is an interesting story that Michael Haussman delivers efficiently rather than spectacularly to the small screen and I found it surprisingly easy to watch.
