Very enjoyable viewing

Rating: 8/10 (10 December 2007)

Contrary to some of the other comments on this site, I just saw the movie yesterday evening and I found it to be very enjoyable viewing with an excellent cast. Cate Blanchett was wonderful in this movie as were the other cast members. The actress who plays Mary Queen of Scots haunted me as I knew I had seen her somewhere before but couldn't place her. It was only just now when I checked with IMDb that I learned she was Agatha in Minority Report! Just couldn't shake where I had seen here before. I would like to comment on some of the other reader postings as well as touch on some of the points I found enjoyable about the film.
1) That the movie depicts the Spanish as black-wearing religious zealots. Well...yes...and your point is? If you look at any period painting of the Spanish court and courtiers they are always dressed in black. The only exceptions usually being very young members of the royal family. As for being religious zealots you only need to open any history book to see the countless religious wars that the Spanish waged at the time. The persecution at home with the Spanish Inquisition. The later destruction of the Americas by Spaniards that destroyed anything they viewed as pagan and un-Christian. Religion was an obsession with the King of Spain who ruled under the idea that "I will not, nor shall I ever be, King of a realm of heretics." 2) That this movie depicted a woman prone to flights of fancy and girlishness. Well again, in every in-depth history book on the Queen you will find that she was exactly that. A woman who had a terrible, traumatic childhood where her death loomed every day. Who was suddenly thrust into rule, as a female ruler surrounded by males. Someone who was vain, girlish, tempestuous. All of these characteristics are well known to have been held by Queen Elizabeth I who later in life banished all mirrors from every palace and insisted on having her official portraits painted by just a few painters always depicting a younger personage. Someone who never felt the honest love of another person who didn't want anything from her. Who like everyone felt her youth fading with every year. I thought this was captured magnificently by Cate Blanchett in this film. Especially at that one beautiful scene with she and Raleigh in front of the fire where she secretly begs him for just one kiss. You can feel the insecurity and lovelessness in her every move and calculated word. I thought that was one of the best scenes in the movie.
That the movie did not do justice to the Queen who "invented modern drama." Hardly. Queen Elizabeth's reign is given far too much credit in this department. If you look at the dates of many of the great Renaissance English dramas such as those produced by Shakespeare, you will find that the majority were written after her death in 1603. It was her successor King James that really patronized the arts, not so much Elizabeth. Elizabeth was actually more famous for never being able to make a decision. Upon her death, James inherited a whole host of problems. She deferred the execution of Mary for a very long time until finally every adviser told her that it had to be done as Mary had committed treason and for years was going around referring to herself as the Queen of England. That's eccentric if you are some beggar on the street, not when you are second in line to the throne. Finally she got her much overdue whack and roll.
I also thought the sea battle was done very well. I did not view it as a "rock em sock em robots" filming. I thought the scene toward the end that showed the fleet in flames was very well done. If anything I thought this part of the movie could have been more gruesome and violent.
As for Walter Raleigh's personality. I really don't know as I was not there. He is known to be a gentleman but also a pirate/privateer. He couldn't have been too courtly as he frequently attacked ships at sea, Spanish cities, and was thrown into the Tower on I believe at least two occasions. He is shown as gallant in the scene in the movie where he throws down his cape for the Queen to step across a puddle.
All in all I thought this was a very enjoyable, rich movie. Fantastic settings, great costumes and interiors, a good sense of the period, the majesty, religious fervor, secret practices with plenty of the day-to-day courtly practices that the rulers of the time experienced. I would recommend it highly.