One of the most interesting and unique figures in music and world history, Joseph Boulogne, the titled Chevalier Saint-Georges, was a talented composer from the Age of Enlightenment who broke the mold in Ancien Régime France. Born in colonial Guadeloupe of a landed Frenchman and a slave woman he rose to fame and musical glory amidst personal and social turmoil. "Chevalier" charts his one of a kind story in steady and good pace with fine acting and the pageantry of pre - Revolutionary Paris. Alas, what could have been the equal or perhaps superior of "Amadeus" or "Immortal Beloved" is soiled by the rampant anti-white, anti-Western agenda of the times. The Saint-Georges of the film is a cocky, full of himself blowhard who all too elegantly restrains his hubris with the affectations of the white society he so eagerly desires to one-up. By all accounts the real-life Saint-Georges was a gentleman who was well liked by those who knew him. The French court in turn are either flagrantly racist or all too fawning towards the singular upstart and one wonders watching this whether one is watching a period piece or a cast from 2023 in 18th - Century clothing. Kelvin Harrison Jr. Gives a decent albeit flawed performance in the lead role as he seems to consciously and subconsciously struggle with the propaganda and the reality set before him. Funny enough, for a bioflick on a musician and composer there's barely any music touched on. The film totally fails in showing what made Bologne tick musically and instead the viewer is bombarded by one pc scene after another. This is a tale and individual that would have been given their just due on the big screen fifty years ago. On a personal note it's nice to see one of my screen crushes Samara Weaving in another lead although it's strange to see her in her role. Taken for what it is and what it should have been, "Chevalier" should at the very least be a gateway into further discovering an interesting man in an age of change and knowing the full truth about them.
Review of Chevalier
