09.17.05
Through the Elizabethan Age
(Note: Originally written 25 May, 04)
I think I’m finally done watching all the videos having to do with the first Queen Elizabeth in my Netflix queue. There’s been many a documentary, the 4-disc set of the BBC miniseries and, last weekend, Elizabeth starring Cate Blanchette as the 25-30 year old queen.
Amazing work and while not always historically accurate, entertaining nonetheless. I’ve been a big fan of Geoffrey Rush since I saw him in Quills and his portrayal of Walsingham, the Queen’s spy master is eerie and ambiguous. Joseph Fiennes as her favourite “did they or didn’t they” Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester makes me hope that real Sir Robert was that handsome and did make her heart flutter, although his behaviour did ultimately lead to the iconic Virgin Queen that so many are familiar with. Oh, and then there’s Christopher Eccleston as the entirely wicked “in the name of the One True Religion” Norfolk.
The trick to watching movies and being an historian is to learn to suspend your belief for two hours. It’s a movie, not a documentary. Yet this movie got a lot more covered and right than much shorter documentaries have. Rent it, love it, enjoy it and move on.