a refreshing perspective

Rating: 6/10 (30 November 2006)

All right, I admit it - I'm an American, and I was totally mystified by the frenzied grief surrounding Diana's death. What did she do for the British public except spend money? How much of a "sacrifice" is it to appear at hospitals and orphanages in finery paid for by the people, and then retreat to a privileged life of clubbing, incredible luxury, numerous extra-marital affairs, and what seems to be eternal "holiday", all at the expense of an incredibly highly taxed public? By now it is obvious that I am not a "Diana-phile." I thought she actually perpetrated an incredible scam on the British public (particulary in the exquisitely acted BBC interview in which she presented herself as heartbroken and lonely), and I was thrilled to see at least an inkling of this sentiment in "The Queen." I am no fan of royalty of any kind, but I thought the British (and in fact the world) public did a great disservice to Elizabeth II by refusing to acknowledge, as was said in the film, "there is a public Diana and a private one, and there is no relationship between the two." There are at least two sides to every story and this is really the first time we've been shown at least a glimpse of the family's side - that Diana was no saint, and that a large part of the family's reaction was dictated by the way they had been bred - to keep a stiff upper lip and not to air one's personal business in public.