michael john grist (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} manfalling) wrote,@ 2008-02-18 18:07:00 |
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Elizabeth: The Golden Age
I went to see this movie on Saturday- with a girl called Miki I met online- for language exchange.
It was weird- to meet someone I'd never met before, then go see a movie together. What was appropriate? What do we talk about?
Ha. Not a date- but dating, hoo boy, who knows? What's the protocol?
Anyway- we had a nice time. We had 20 minutes before to chat about jobs and life, half in English and half in Japanese. That was cool- good to feel like I could semi-hold my own in Japanese. After, we went for coffee and made efforts to think of things to say. Never got uncomfortable or too silent, but if we'd gone much longer than about 30 mins, it probably would have done.
Anyway- the movie. I'd meant for us to watch the documentary 'Earth', but it turned out she wanted to watch that with her mother, so 'Elizabeth: The Golden Age' it was.
It's a story in 2 parts really. The first is court intrigue, romance, the burdens and joys of queendom. The second is the battle for England against the invading Spanish. Surprisingly, they held together very well. Cate Blanchett does a great job showing us strength, sacrifice, weakness, and then the iron sword tempered by the fire by the end.
It made me feel proud to be English. That's a strange thing to say maybe, but it's a pride we may spend half the time being ashamed of. Our colonial past, our role in the subjugation of peoples, our exploitations of others. But in this movie- whether factually borne out or not- Elizabeth and England stood out as the voice of reason against Philip's mad extremism, the Inquisition, and fundamental Catholicism.
Catholics, most probably based in America, have complained about how the movie attacks Catholicism. That's strange. Do they stand behind the Inquisition?
Wikipedia says Philip issued what was basically a fatwa on Elizabeth- hi-jacking religion to inspire people to kill her, and to expect a fitting reward for their deeds when they found themselves martyred in heaven. Though I imagine a lot of people were using religion back then to further their own ends. As today.
In the movie Elizabeth, and England, stand for temperance and sanity, pitched against Philip's madness. It was a shame that all the Spanish was sub-titled in Japanese, so I could only half-follow what he was saying. Still, he was freaky. Thin legs! Lurking gait!
Compare that to Elizabeth in war-armor, rallying the troops? Awesome. After all she'd been through- coming to accept her role, as aloof, lonely, but victoriously leading her country to victory and safety.
My favorite part- the credits roll, and the first name up is the director- Shekhar Kapur. An Indian guy.
Why is that so great? Why did that moment make me want to punch the air?
Because it connects what Elizabeth did with what England has done throughout history. I mentioned before colonialism. Bad things were done, people may well have been treated like slaves or worse, but in the end, it all got worked out, or is being worked out. England has a large population of Indian people, as well as people from all over the old colonies and Commonwealth. England is a melting-pot, and it is that diversity that makes up England's national identity today- as it always has. England is a country of mongrels- Saxons, Angles, Jutes, Norsemen, the Roman influence, Gaelics, mongrels that due to widened views of the world, of science and of religion, could see beyond petty uni-lateralisms and employ free and wide thinking, shooting for libertarian ideals, peace, the rule of law, freedom, and all the other things the Magna Carta presaged so long ago.
It made me proud to be English, a celebration of English history- and an Indian/British guy made it. That's emblematic of what we are, and have done. We've played an essential part on the world stage, of tempering the political zeitgeist and reining in madmen, of bringing peoples together and finding ways to co-exist.
And so, I feel, it continues today.
I went to see this movie on Saturday- with a girl called Miki I met online- for language exchange.
It was weird- to meet someone I'd never met before, then go see a movie together. What was appropriate? What do we talk about?
Ha. Not a date- but dating, hoo boy, who knows? What's the protocol?
Anyway- we had a nice time. We had 20 minutes before to chat about jobs and life, half in English and half in Japanese. That was cool- good to feel like I could semi-hold my own in Japanese. After, we went for coffee and made efforts to think of things to say. Never got uncomfortable or too silent, but if we'd gone much longer than about 30 mins, it probably would have done.
Anyway- the movie. I'd meant for us to watch the documentary 'Earth', but it turned out she wanted to watch that with her mother, so 'Elizabeth: The Golden Age' it was.
It's a story in 2 parts really. The first is court intrigue, romance, the burdens and joys of queendom. The second is the battle for England against the invading Spanish. Surprisingly, they held together very well. Cate Blanchett does a great job showing us strength, sacrifice, weakness, and then the iron sword tempered by the fire by the end.
It made me feel proud to be English. That's a strange thing to say maybe, but it's a pride we may spend half the time being ashamed of. Our colonial past, our role in the subjugation of peoples, our exploitations of others. But in this movie- whether factually borne out or not- Elizabeth and England stood out as the voice of reason against Philip's mad extremism, the Inquisition, and fundamental Catholicism.
Catholics, most probably based in America, have complained about how the movie attacks Catholicism. That's strange. Do they stand behind the Inquisition?
Wikipedia says Philip issued what was basically a fatwa on Elizabeth- hi-jacking religion to inspire people to kill her, and to expect a fitting reward for their deeds when they found themselves martyred in heaven. Though I imagine a lot of people were using religion back then to further their own ends. As today.
In the movie Elizabeth, and England, stand for temperance and sanity, pitched against Philip's madness. It was a shame that all the Spanish was sub-titled in Japanese, so I could only half-follow what he was saying. Still, he was freaky. Thin legs! Lurking gait!
Compare that to Elizabeth in war-armor, rallying the troops? Awesome. After all she'd been through- coming to accept her role, as aloof, lonely, but victoriously leading her country to victory and safety.
My favorite part- the credits roll, and the first name up is the director- Shekhar Kapur. An Indian guy.
Why is that so great? Why did that moment make me want to punch the air?
Because it connects what Elizabeth did with what England has done throughout history. I mentioned before colonialism. Bad things were done, people may well have been treated like slaves or worse, but in the end, it all got worked out, or is being worked out. England has a large population of Indian people, as well as people from all over the old colonies and Commonwealth. England is a melting-pot, and it is that diversity that makes up England's national identity today- as it always has. England is a country of mongrels- Saxons, Angles, Jutes, Norsemen, the Roman influence, Gaelics, mongrels that due to widened views of the world, of science and of religion, could see beyond petty uni-lateralisms and employ free and wide thinking, shooting for libertarian ideals, peace, the rule of law, freedom, and all the other things the Magna Carta presaged so long ago.
It made me proud to be English, a celebration of English history- and an Indian/British guy made it. That's emblematic of what we are, and have done. We've played an essential part on the world stage, of tempering the political zeitgeist and reining in madmen, of bringing peoples together and finding ways to co-exist.
And so, I feel, it continues today.
