ELIZABETH: THE GOLDEN AGE
UK, 2007, 115 minutes, Colour.
Cate Blanchett, Geoffrey Rush, Clive Owen, Rhys Ifans, Jordi Molla, Abbie Cornish, Samantha Morton, Tom Hollander, Adam Godley, David Threlfall, Eddie Redmayne, John Shrapnel, Laurence Fox.
Directed by Shekhar Kapur.
Some Catholic condemnations greeted this sequel to the 1998, Elizabeth.
The main problem with Elizabeth – the Golden Age is that it treats an extremely sensitive period in English history in a jingoistic and overly partisan manner: the aftermath of the excommunication of Elizabeth, the aftermath of the executions of Protestants by Queen Mary as well as the persecution of Catholics by the government, the tensions with Spain, the execution of Mary Queen of Scots and the attack of the Spanish Armada and its defeat. This is all stirring stuff and has been included in various films and television programs about Elizabeth and about Mary Queen of Scots.
The problem with this film for all audiences and especially for Catholics is the tone, the simplistic English patriotism and the blackening (literally in their dress) of Catholics. Some of the dialogue sounds quite outmoded, straight out of those antagonistic days of suspicions of other churches, something that applied to all suspicions and spats between Papists and, in the schoolboy jargon of previous decades, ‘Protty dogs’. Serious advisers to Elizabeth tell her that every Catholic in the realm is a danger to her, a potential assassin. While the film rightly shows the plots of Philip II of Spain, the Babington attack on Elizabeth and some Catholic conspirators, the ‘every Catholic’ rhetoric is a bit much. Fortunately, Elizabeth herself is given some lines which moderate this extremism – although she is also made to say that if the Armada lands it will bring the Inquisition which seems to be on board. She proclaims freedom of thought, which is not quite accurate in view of her persecutions and executions.
This is a film which would not be helpful as a basis for ecumenical discussions between Anglicans and Catholics.
As a film, it is a colourful spectacle that covers 1585-1588, momentous years with the death of Mary Queen of Scots and the Armada. The title is misleading. Elizabeth’s ‘golden age’ was to follow this period, the subject of the next sequel, perhaps. Another fact is that Elizabeth was 52 at the opening of the film and, despite Cate Blanchett’s best efforts (and she is one of the reasons for seeing the film), she does not seem near 52. There is romance with Clive Owen’s debonair piratical Walter Raleigh, intrigue with Geoffrey Rush’s world-weary Walsingham, and Drake’s confrontation of the Armada is dwarfed by Raleigh’s heroics (who uses his cloak over the puddle as his ticket of introduction to the queen). But, while the film has many interesting sequences, the total lacks the forceful impact of the original.
Demonising the enemy can be a deliberate plot – or, as in this case it would seem, not a plot but lazy scripting, black versus white stuff. Philip II is played as devilish caricature, with a bandy-legged walk, fidgety in the extreme (often with his rosary beads), blessing the armada, denouncing Elizabeth with epithets of ‘bastard’ and ‘whore’ and proclaiming Catholicism in a style reminiscent of the current president of Iran when he rants against the west. He is surrounded by grim-visaged monks and perpetual religious chant – with all in black. Rhys Ifans also turns up as a fanatical Jesuit (parallel to Daniel Craig’s assassin priest in Elizabeth). No redeeming features here – except, perhaps, the dignity with which Samantha Morton’s Mary Queen of Scot shows on the gallows.
We do not usually talk about ‘angelising’ but this is what this film does for Elizabeth. While the screenplay helpfully shows the weaker sides of Elizabeth’s behaviour, her infatuation with Raleigh, her jealous outbursts against her lady in waiting, Bess Throckmorton, most of the film proposes her as angel to Philip’s devil. Beautiful, beautifully gowned, articulate, noble demeanour, she becomes more and more the competent stateswoman, eventually donning armour to support the troops against the Armada, sitting horseback offering rousing encouragement in the manner of Olivier’s Henry V and then, ethereal in nightdress, roaming the fields and standing, in a long shot, like an angelic icon on the cliffs confronting the enemy, a guardian angel of her soldiers. And that is describing it mildly.
Elizabeth – The Golden Age is something of a surprise and a letdown. The potential to make a 21st century historical epic that was able to acknowledge the passionate beliefs on both sides along with the wrongs would have made stimulating and relevant cinema. Bias, as always (think Braveheart or The Patriot) would have been inevitable but, unfortunately, this film gets carried away with itself.
1.The impact of the original film? Expectations of the sequel? Fulfilled or not?
2.The importance of the pageantry, entertaining pageantry? The re-creation of the period, the Elizabethan court, costumes, décor? England, the court and the suitors, the meetings, the contrast with Spain, the cathedrals and black, the armada, the score?
3.The presentation of history, the dialogue, bigotry, generalisations? Distorting history? Or dramatising history? England, Spain, the antagonism between the two? The Reformation, the church in England, Catholicism? The Inquisition – and Elizabeth’s declaration of liberty (and the reality of persecution and torture during her reign)? Fear, torture, the role of religion, politics, the interaction, treason?
4.The demonising of Spain and Catholicism, of Philip II, his marriage with Mary, his appearance, black clothes, eccentric walk, like a spider? His advisers, seeming sinister? The bishops and cardinals? The processions in the church? The Roman perspective? The monks and the chant? Robert Reston and the sinister Jesuit? Appearance, language? Walsingham’s brother, his treason and torture? The Spanish diplomats at the British court, their presentations, their objections, their departure? The armada? The death of Mary Queen of Scots as a reason for the armada?
5.The angelising of Elizabeth, the virgin queen, her suitors, her relationships, her attitude towards Mary Queen of Scots, her regret at her death? The war, the strategies, showing leadership with the maps? As an English Joan of Arc, like Olivier’s Henry V before the troops, the pre-Raphaelite stance on the cliff? Elizabeth as Gloriana?
6.Elizabeth and her Tudor heritage, the heritage of her mother, Mary Queen of Scots as cousin, executed? The assassination attempt and its effect on her, her standing firm, confronting the assassin? Her reliance on Walsingham for his advice? The other advisers, the council? Her interest in Walter Raleigh? Her liking for Bess, Bess as a confidante, the other ladies-in-waiting? The Austrian suitor? Her jealousy of Bess? Because of Raleigh? The love sequence between Raleigh and Bess – and Elizabeth looking at herself in the mirror? Raleigh and the possibilities of the New World? The armada crisis? Her becoming a stateswoman?
7.Mary Queen of Scots, in prison, her plans, her advisers, the plot, the attempted assassination, the imprisonment and torture of the assassins? The confrontation, her going to prison, the accusations, the dignity of her death? Elizabeth’s regrets?
8.Robert Reston, the Jesuits, seen as sinister? Yet the many sincere Jesuits and their martyrdom?
9.The portrait of Walter Raleigh, from Virginia, his attacking of the Spanish ships, the puddle, the cloak, his getting an audience with the queen? Bringing tobacco and potatoes? Walsingham and the others testing them out? His being in Elizabeth’s company, riding, talking, flirting? Elizabeth as flirtatious? Bess, the lady-in-waiting, the attraction towards Raleigh the contact with him, inviting him to come to the queen? The affair, her pregnancy, the marriage? Banishment? Elizabeth’s tantrums? Raleigh’s advice, his being released from prison, his armada heroics, on the fire ship, leaping, under water? Going back to Virginia? The presentation of Drake, almost as an afterthought?
10.Bess, in herself, young, the confidante, her access to the queen, the encounters Raleigh, wariness, attracted, the affair, pregnancy, the marriage, the consequences?
11.Walsingham, his place at the court, politics, sinister, critical of Spain, critical of Catholicism, his advice to the queen? His brother, the meeting, the discussions, the torture, the treason? His illness, dying? His wife?
12.The battles with the armada, the action of the British troops, the navy, the fire ships, the ramming? The effect on the Spaniards? The war council and their maps, discussions, the dispatches? The strategies?
13.The film and its presentation of religious divisions – and the use of an old-style polemic language, out of place at the beginning of the 21st century?
