Now that they've made Queen Elizabeth look interesting, there comes an even more daunting task: convincing the world that the British monarchy has any reason to exist.

Rating: 8/10 (6 May 2007)

Watching "The Queen" made me think several things. First and foremost was how Helen Mirren plays HM Queen Elizabeth II to a tee, getting her mannerisms and even her walk down (and you gotta admit, the two women look very similar). But another thing comes after you see what happened after Princess Diana's death, and how various topics crashed head on into each other. It seemed a little creepy to keep Harry and William from seeing their mother after she'd died. Of course, this could have resulted from the nearly tabloid response that followed her death.
Now admittedly, much of this movie is a possibility of what might have happened during those few days. But whether or not it is accurate is not the point. The purpose of this movie is to show that the United Kingdom's ruler is more than a staid old woman; she's a real human being, dealing with her own problems as much as just about anyone else has to.
As it was, watching the movie brought back memories of Diana's death. I remember that my parents and I were getting ready to go to my friend's bar mitzvah when we heard about the car wreck on the news and heard that Dodi Fayed had died. Everyone was talking about it at the bar mitzvah. When we got home, we turned on the news, and Diana had died. School started a day or two later and it was all that anyone was talking about for about the first week. For the next four years, I believed that it would be the defining moment of my formative years (like the Kennedy assassination for my parents); then, of course, September 11, 2001, came along.
I guess that the movie also brings up freedom of the press issues. Did the press cause Diana's death? Did they misrepresent her post mortem? These questions may persist, but I will still assert that the movie, while not the biggest masterpiece, is worth seeing as a look into the lives these individuals who so often seem so remote from the rest of the world. As it is, they make Prince Charles look like kind of a jerk. Also starring James Cromwell, Michael Sheen and Alex Jennings.