Send For The Aussies

Rating: Null/10 (25 October 1998)

Elizabeth It's telling I think that Channel Four in England has hired two "colonials", Australians Cate Blanchett and Geoffrey Rush, to play the leads in its latest historical drama Elizabeth. Yet another example of the ol' dart realising that it sent the best of the best away to Aussie 200 years ago. They need us back it seems! Elizabeth is an historical drama about Elizabeth 1, the "virgin queen", known as "the most unwelcome royal daughter of English History"; the bastard daughter of King Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn. Elizabeth came to the throne in 1533 on the death of Queen (Bloody) Mary. The tussle between the Protestants and the Catholics was in full swing. Elizabeth was a Protestant, was week politically and in experience and was enticed to marry into one of the nearby waring nations to consolidate the power of England. Elizabeth had seen her mother and her stepmother (Katherine Howard) murdered and was well in line for an early death herself. That she survived and went on to reign with some strength in England for 45 years, and that she never married, lends this royal as a worthy topic for bio pics! Elizabeth R, an excellent 6 part, 1971 TV mini-series has already introduced us to a ferociously strong performance as Elizabeth by Glenda Jackson and to just one version of what Elizabeth was really like. Australian Cate Blanchett has defined, with every bit as much force as the great Glenda Jackson, another fascinating and powerfully realised Elizabeth. Cate Blanchett is a product of the strong Sydney Belvoir Street Theatre and really stuns as Elizabeth. She's come to most notice on the screen before Elizabeth in Oscar And Lucinda and in Thank God He Met Lizzy. She has star quality written all over her. Toowoomba born Geoffrey Rush plays Sir Francis Walsingham, who imbues Elizabeth's chief spy with a subtlety that is breath taking. Rush has most notably to date won an Oscar for his portrayal of the adult David Helfgott in Shine and was also recently seen on screen in Les Miserables as Javert, in another very impressive performance. Elizabeth was directed by The Bandit Queen's Shekhar Kapur, a cross cultural choice that has produced a challenging production; a film that is full of both intrigue and mayhem as well as a mesmerising, almost distracting beauty. So we have the butchery that stood for politics in 16th century England displayed against beautifully lit interiors and all of the accoutrements of historical drama. It could be argued that these contradictions could lessen the effect of both of these elements but the power of Elizabeth briskly and effectively shrugs of any such argument. Elizabeth is complex, harrowing and beautiful all at once. Cate Blanchett and Geoffrey Rush are stunning and so is Elizabeth