A stunner which gets better the second time around

Rating: Null/10 (1 February 2000)

When I saw this film upon release , it seemed vaguely familiar. Looking at it again today I picked up why...it was "The Godfather" set in the sixteenth century with Blanchett as Michael Corleone in drag and Geoffrey Rush as an impassive Tom Hagen. The final bloodbaths seemed to have been written by the same scriptwriter. Notwithstanding that, the film is a beauty and it belabours the emotions right to the end. All of the main characters are magnificent and the wonder of it all is that, in 1999, the Academy showed that politics mean more than art when they can award the Oscar to such a lightweight as "Shakespeare in Love" while almost ignoring the quality of "Elizabeth" and, dare I say it, "Saving Private Ryan".