History purists may cringe at the sequential and factual inaccuracies of an opulent revisitation of the British past, preferring the quiet sojourn of 'unseasoned' period drama to the noise of big budget. But the days of history-in-a-film are approaching an interesting intersection and Shekhar Kapur's Elizabeth is definitely a step in the right direction. Elizabeth is a romantic reinvention and a critical reappraisal of the days before the Empire was what is would become. Focused on one of England's most interesting and misunderstood historical figures, Queen Elizabeth (the first that is, not the second), the film captivates as big cinema promises to without falling prey to the inevitable disappointment of Hollywood.
Elizabeth is no BBC production, but it does not fall into the 'slightly absurd' category of Gwyneth and Ethan in Hollywood's Great Expectations either. Elizabeth is propelled by an intriguing fiction that is both visual and sensual, and perhaps historical too. But there is the catch, people make history but history doesn't make films, not big ones anyway. The film's historical accuracy (measured for micro precision) becomes insignificant as the film creates its own historical context within a web of intrigue and a rich splattering of character, landscape and action.
Kapur (who you may remember from the 1994 film, Bandit Queen), is one of many directors finally given the opportunity to rewrite the canon, and where better to start than with the most sacred cultural symbol, history. The birth of global cinema has certainly propelled the smashing of icons, with varying degrees of subtlety, but while Kapur acknowledges his irreverence in directing the film, he is not simply an iconoclast. Welcome to the new world, eighty years after the Empire began disintegrating, social reality has encountered cinema, "a director from Bombay takes on Elizabethan England." Elizabeth breaks the rules of historical and cultural sanctity by depicting the Queen as a lovestruck girl, a little out of control and slightly malleable. The film lingers on the margins of period drama, dwelling on the inconsistencies and contradictions of history, the overlooked crevices and the unmistakable ironies, Elizabeth, champion of Protestant England, displaces Catholicism's Virgin Mother to become the Virgin Queen.
Kitty K
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