I am surely showing my age when I compare this wonderful production to the SUPERB 40 year old BBC production "The Jewel in the Crown". I am clearly a bigger fan of the latter, but that is not a criticism . "Indian" shows a slightly earlier time, giving even a more a sense of the build up to the necessary but horribly violent partition of 1947, so well portrayed in "The Jewel". All the acting in both productions is superb - the tensions between the various Indian populations and the pretty monolithic English population (with just a few English rebels accused of going "Native"). It is crucial history that most Americans are unaware of. I don't know how familiar even the present English generation is with this terrible colonial history. In both productions, the fantasy world the English had created in India, truly believing themselves not only superior to Indians of all classes, but perfectly secure from any native sense of injustice and rage - is incredibly remarkable - and not far removed from our own history of slavery and "Jim Crow-ism" in the US South (AND NOrth!). If you love this series, please also see "The Jewel in the Crown", for as full a picture of this time and place as we Americans are likely to get or understand. PS "Harry Potter's" own Julie Walters shows an appallingly wonderful side in "Indian". And Judy Parfitt, late of "Call the Midwife" was a similar character 40 years ago in "Jewel". - Nothing like a glorious English actress! (How did Maggie Smith escape either production??)
Review of Indian Summers
