I remember where I was when I got the news

Rating: 7/10 (27 April 2007)

I will always remember where I was when Princess Diana was killed in Paris. Coincidently I was in London for my 18th birthday. I remember making up in the morning after my birthday and finding out she had died in a car crash, I was in shock and disbelief that it had happened and this is one event I remember very well especially the nation being angry that the royal family had not done anything, lowing the flag, coming back to London and not making a statement at all, about Diana. This is what the ordinary British public expected and they showed the emotion they thought the Royal family were unable to but what the film picks up on is they come from a completely different world to us, they have privilege but they have this scrutiny that goes with it where everyone is watching and if they don't do or say the right thing they are picked apart. I didn't grow up in the Queen's time so I find that I don't understand the Queen as well as someone who grew up in the same era would and this is what the film goes to, the Queen was brought up in a totally different mind set then people in my era, they kept their emotions in check,never showing them to anyone. She must have felt a range of emotions but she had to be the Queen to the country first so she had to stiffen up and let the punches bounce off her.
The film reconstructs the events of the week after Princess Diana was killed, it uses news footage from the BBC and ITV with the film's re constructions. It is unique as this is told from the royal family's perceptive. What I like about Stephen Frears direction is he shows the royal family sympathetically but he also shows the royals as they are and doesn't try to gloss over things that could show them in a negative way.
I will never agree with some of the actions of the royal family but I think they are strong people who are human but they have their own way of dealing with situations that would have other people running for cover, especially The Queen and I admire them for that.
The film is also about the relationship between the Queen and Tony Blair and the different approaches they have, Blair is modern and the Queen is seen as old fashioned.
It is also ironic to see Tony Blair at the start of his term who was very popular and who understood and correctly Gage the mood of the public and now he is so unpopular and all he will be remembered for recently is his discussion to bring us into a war with Iraq. It is a shame that this should be one of the things he will be remembered for. I think there is a joke between the film and the audience when the Queen turns to Blair and says he will be in the same situation she found herself in with Princess Diana and the audience being in the present can see she is right as we are at the end of his term and most of the public have been turned off from Blair and the Labour government who we now see as being exactly like the Tories were when they were in government.
The cast is wonderful. They are subtle performances, that are not caricatures of the real people, they are just understated and not over the top like some actors portraying real people have done in the past. Helen Mirren as The Queen, James Cromwell as Prince Philip, Michael Sheen, Alex Jennings as Prince Charles and Sylvia Syms as The Queen mother just convince you that you are seeing the real people they are portraying and not the actors.
Special mention should be made to Peter Morgan for his writing, Film Editing by Lucia Zucchetti, Cinematography by Affonso Beato and Original Music by Alexandre Desplat.
The only negative things I will say is the film shouldn't have killed that stag, I was very annoyed as I don't approve of hunting and didn't feel it had any reason to be in the plot. The other thing is where did the writer and director get their material, what research did they carry out and how do we know the royal family depicted in the film is how they were in reality.