The Queen
The Queen has been nominated for six Academy Awards (including Best Picture). With those kinds of accolades, I decided to go see it. Although it won’t ever be on my best movies of all time list, I was intrigued as the story unfolded. The film stars Helen Mirren as Queen Elizabeth and James Cromwell as Prince Philip.
I remember well my circumstances at the time I discovered that Lady Diana had died. I was shocked and angry at the paparazzi that surely contributed to the fatal accident. I had never been one to follow Diana’s activities with the zealous interest of a fan, and yet I certainly had heard enough about her in recent years to mourn the loss of this special woman.
The Queen examines the week following Diana’s death from the perspective of the “royal” family and that of recently elected Prime Minister Tony Blair. The queen’s reluctance to acknowledge Diana’s death publicly was a mistake she made and was severely criticized for. Some of what is depicted is surely the result of writers/filmmakers creative imagination, but it all serves to make a point about Diana’s tragic death. I appreciated the film as one who is not all that familiar with the British monarchy and England’s strange obeisance to a centuries old tradition of honoring this genealogical line. I came away having gained some insight into the tradition that uses God’s will as a reason for this family’s privilege.
The scenery shown as the royal family goes stalking (our equivalent of hunting) in the week following Diana’s death is stark, yet beautiful. It is an England I had not seen portrayed before: 40,000 mountainous and mostly treeless acres belonging to the royal family. I’m having a difficult time coming up with other positive things to say about this film. As far as I’m concerned, it doesn’t deserve any of the awards it has been nominated for. Perhaps it received the nominations because of its subject matter. There have certainly been better films that were released this year. Even though I don’t think it should win the awards, it was still an interesting movie.
I remember well my circumstances at the time I discovered that Lady Diana had died. I was shocked and angry at the paparazzi that surely contributed to the fatal accident. I had never been one to follow Diana’s activities with the zealous interest of a fan, and yet I certainly had heard enough about her in recent years to mourn the loss of this special woman.
The Queen examines the week following Diana’s death from the perspective of the “royal” family and that of recently elected Prime Minister Tony Blair. The queen’s reluctance to acknowledge Diana’s death publicly was a mistake she made and was severely criticized for. Some of what is depicted is surely the result of writers/filmmakers creative imagination, but it all serves to make a point about Diana’s tragic death. I appreciated the film as one who is not all that familiar with the British monarchy and England’s strange obeisance to a centuries old tradition of honoring this genealogical line. I came away having gained some insight into the tradition that uses God’s will as a reason for this family’s privilege.
The scenery shown as the royal family goes stalking (our equivalent of hunting) in the week following Diana’s death is stark, yet beautiful. It is an England I had not seen portrayed before: 40,000 mountainous and mostly treeless acres belonging to the royal family. I’m having a difficult time coming up with other positive things to say about this film. As far as I’m concerned, it doesn’t deserve any of the awards it has been nominated for. Perhaps it received the nominations because of its subject matter. There have certainly been better films that were released this year. Even though I don’t think it should win the awards, it was still an interesting movie.
posted by Sue | 6:35 PM
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