Wednesday, January 31, 2007
The Queen
This is one of those rare movies that is both entertaining and informative. It gives a rare glimpse into an exclusive world, namely the British Royal household.The movie recounts the events immediately following the death of Princess Diana as the Royal family and British politicians try to come to grips with the public relations fall-out.
The story could have easily fallen into one of two traps. It could have been a fawning love-letter to Princess Di. Or it could have been a sychophantic tribute to the Royal family. It was neither.
Without going into detail, the film conveys that the Princess Di story was not as simple as her post-mortem cult would have us believe. It is implied that the behind-the-scenes Di was hell on wheels and a persistent trouble-maker. From the little I know of this drama, I find this credible.
The Royals, and particularly the Queen, are shown from both sides of their human nature. On the one hand, the film shows us how hilariously insular and culturally inbred they are. In one particularly funny scene, Prince Philip proposes cheering up the young princes by taking them out hunting the day after their mother's death. "All right," says the Queen. "But no guns - it's Sunday."
On the other hand, the Queen is depicted as a woman who has dedicated her whole life to the British nation and has done so without a word of complaint or a whiff of scandal. At one point, she reminds her staff how she had served as a mechanic during the war. One starts to suspect the Queen resented Diana because she felt the latter had unjustly absconded with the title "the people's princess".
To me, perhaps the most enjoyable parts of the movie were the ones that showed that Elizabeth II is not just the Queen of England but also the archetypical English woman of her generation: frumpy, stubborn, witchy yet full of wry humour. When you see her stomping about in her head-scarf, raincoat and rubber boots, she seems like she could be anyone's grumpy old English grandma.
The movie is, above all, a character study. Helen Mirren does a phenomenal job of capturing this complex personality. If she doesn't win the Oscar for this performance, it will be a travesty.
Honourable mention also goes to Michael Sheen for his performance as Tony Blair. His acting is so convincing that you really find yourself thinking that he actually is Tony Blair, as we watch him go through his evolution from being a socialist who sneers at the monarchy to a seasoned politician who admires Elizabeth II. "Like every other Labour Prime Minister, you all end up ga-ga over the Queen", his wife complains.
A solid movie, worth seeing and well deserving its Oscar nominations.
posted by Mentok @ 6:52 PM,
