Surely a period piece about Queen Elizabeth has to have a British director, right? Think again! This godfather-style costume drama, Elizabeth (1998), was directed by Indian born and reared Shekhar Kapur.

Historical Background: Shekhar Kapur was born in Lahore, British India [now part of Pakistan], in 1945. He trained as an accountant, but abandoned that profession to pursue his interest in cinema. Two of his uncles were actors Vijay Anand and Dev Anand. Kapur tried his hand at acting in various Bollywood productions. He was not especially successful in that vein, though he had about a half-dozen bit parts before turning to directing in 1983. His debut film was Masoom (1983). He first drew international attention with the controversial Bandit Queen (1994), a biographical portrait of Phoolan Devi, who was a lower-caste female outlaw in India. That film had a lot of graphic content and drew the ire of Indian censors. As a result, Kapur began working mainly outside of India, starting with the present film, Elizabeth (1998), which received an Oscar nomination for Best Picture. Kapur returned to India between films, but once again went to the West to direct his next film, The Four Feathers (2002), a rather pale remake of the 1939 classic, The Four Feathers. Kapur currently has one project in pre-production (Elizabeth: The Golden Age) and three future ones already announced: Solace, Paani, and Buddha.

The Story: The story opens in England in 1554. It is seven years since the death of King Henry VIII from syphilis and gout. Edward VI, Henry's only son, a Protestant, and the half-brother of Elizabeth, briefly succeeded his father, but Edward died childless in 1553. The throne had then passed to Elizabeth's half-sister Mary Tudor (Kathy Burke), who had been raised a Catholic by her mother, Catherine of Aragon. Queen Mary set out to make Catholicism the state religion of England, acquiring in the process the nickname "Bloody Mary" for her vicious persecution of Protestants. Cherry Mary was childless, however, and sickly. The greatest fear of the Catholics was that Mary's Protestant half-sister Elizabeth would gain the thrown. When a Protestant plot was foiled, Mary had Elizabeth (Cate Blanchett) torn from her frolicsome flirtations with Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester (Joseph Fiennes), and briefly tucked away in the Tower of London. When Mary later lay dying from a tumor, the Duke of Norfolk (Christopher Eccleston), her staunchest Catholic ally, had urged her to sign Elizabeth's death warrant, but Mary could not bring herself to do so. When Mary died, Elizabeth ascended to the throne. In the movie version, the Earl of Sussex (Jamie Foreman), a Catholic, reluctantly delivers the royal ring to the youthful Elizabeth.

At first, Elizabeth occupies herself mainly with the pleasures of court life. She even amuses the courtiers with a snappy dance number, with Dudley serving as her partner. The white bearded Sir William Cecil (Richard Attenborough) becomes her chief advisor. Waiting in the wings and watching over the Queen's interests is another Protestant leader, Sir Francis Walsingham (Geoffrey Rush), who had returned from exile in France (after surviving an assassination attempt) when Elizabeth assumed power. Cecil dutifully informs Elizabeth of the wretched state of the country, brought on, in part, by her predecessor's ill-advised wars. The Navy is run down and there is no standing army. There's not even enough money in the treasury for the routine costs of running the government. Mary of Guise, Queen of Scots, maintains a French garrison to the north and has designs on the throne of England. Cecil fears for the stability of Elizabeth's throne and urges her to marry in order to acquire a powerful ally and to ensure the bloodline.

Elizabeth has no shortage of suitors. The Spanish ambassador, Alvaro de la Quadra (James Frain), presses the case for his employer, King Philip II of Spain (George Yiasoumi). The French ambassador, Monsieur de Foix (Eric Cantona), urges a union between Elizabeth and Duc d'Anjou (Vincent Cassel), who also happens to be the nephew of Mary of Guise. The latter alliance would avert the threat of civil war with the Scots and their French allies, but d'Anjou is a lecher and a fop who cross-dresses and sponsors wild orgies. Dudley, of course, urges Elizabeth to marry for love – offering himself. Elizabeth gradually comes to realize that her ultimate trump card is to toy with various suitors and keep them all hoping by accepting none. She will marry only England and leave the rest to pine.

At first, Elizabeth is uncertain in leadership and relies heavily on her council of advisors, dominated by Norfolk. She is urged to send an army against the French regiments of Mary, Queen of Scots (daughter of Mary of Guise). She reluctantly agrees, but the Catholic Bishops undermine the effort by urging Elizabeth's Catholic subjects to stay at home. Elizabeth confronts the Bishops by spearheading the Act of Supremacy, reestablishing the Church of England, which her father had created, as the official state religion, thus effectively declaring independence from the Roman Catholic Church. In a highly effective segment, we observe Elizabeth nervously practicing her speech to the Bishops beforehand, in a mirror, and, later, beginning her speech hesitantly. Then she finds her stride and wins over a majority with a combination of humor, charm, persuasive argument, and feminine wiles.

Elizabeth survives several attempts on her life. The Pope (John Gielgud) sends a black-cloaked assassin, John Ballard (Daniel Craig), and letters to fortify the spines of the Catholic resistance, absolving them from further allegiance to Queen Elizabeth. Elizabeth sends the well-meaning but weak-willed Cecil into retirement and turns to the more calculating and aggressive Walsingham as her chief council. With the Queen's blessing, Walsingham organizes a decisive initiative, capturing the Pope's assassin and torturing him for the names of his accomplices. Sussex, Bishop Gardiner (Terence Rigby), the Spanish ambassador Alvaro de la Quadra, and, ultimately, Norfolk, are all put to death or confined. Dudley is implicated as well, but allowed to live – as a reminder to the Queen of how close she came to danger. Walsingham himself deals with the threat posed by Mary of Guise.

Elizabeth then sets out to transform herself into a living icon – the Virgin Queen – inspiring her subjects in much the same way that another virgin had done for Catholics for centuries. The Elizabethan age was born, bringing about a surge of optimism and National pride among the English, an unprecedented burst of literary creativity, and economic prosperity. After the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588, England could scorn any European power that might dare to attempt an invasion of the Island. The success of Queen Elizabeth laid the foundation for the later emergence of the British Empire.

Themes: Modern women need and deserve role models in the form of strong historical figures of the female variety, and what better example than one of the greatest heads-of-state and inspirational monarchs, Elizabeth I. It is girl-power at its most conclusive when Elizabeth declares, with regal assurance, "I will have one mistress here! And no master!" Sure, writer Michael Hirst has given Elizabeth a feminist voice with a bit too much of a modern quality to it, but the story of Queen Elizabeth virtually demands interpretation as an example of female empowerment. The historical Elizabeth was apparently never so much of an ingénue as she is depicted in this film, initially, but portraying her in that manner only adds appeal to the glory of her ultimate transformation (and liberation from assumptions about what women could and could not be expected to accomplish).

Production Values: The screenplay, written by Michael Hirst, is strictly a pseudo-biographical account of the rise of one of England most popular and successful monarchs. Though the broad contours of the story are taken from history, Hirst has played fast and loose with many of the particulars. The fate of Mary, for example, was nothing like what is depicted in the movie. Whether such deviations from historical accuracy are weaknesses in the script is really a question for each viewer to decide, based in part on why he or she has chosen to watch the film. One could easily argue that it wasn't necessary to deviate so much from historical accuracy because the story of Queen Elizabeth is inherently interesting and needs no dramatic embellishment. On the other hand, artists frequently write fictional works based loosely on historical events and personages and have every right to do so. Hirst and Kapur wanted to dramatize the life of Queen Elizabeth in a way that would appeal to modern sensibilities, with plenty of looming castle chambers, political intrigue, violent showdowns, and post-feminist themes. Kapur admitted to being influenced by The Godfather in the way that the film treats the relationship between religions and political violence. Elizabeth comes across a bit like Elizabethan history encountering Don Corleone. There's plenty of dramatic action to hold the attention of viewers with even the shortest of attention spans. So what if some of the dialog and characterizations are absurdly melodramatic? There's still enough of value in this film, in the form of drama, action, romance, and intrigue, to ensure an entertaining and worthwhile viewing experience.

This film has all the best trappings of a high quality costume drama. Most of the action takes place inside various spacious castles, cathedrals, and the Tower of London. There are some outdoor shots in expansive meadows, in the woods, or on the Thames. The costumes are magnificent. The make-up, especially that which transforms Elizabeth into the Virgin Queen near the film's end, is exceptional. Jenny Shircore, who did the make-up, earned this film's only Oscar trophy. The camerawork is excellent. The editing is relatively brisk, ensuring a pace consistent with an action oriented film. There are numerous highly realistic adrenal-releasing scenes of violence, including the burning of some Protestants at the stake, the slashing of a young lad's throat, a torture scene, heads being lopped off and mounted on posts, and a lady-in-waiting who transitions abruptly from an orgasm to a violent seizure induced by some kind of poison. The soundtrack provides not only appropriately dramatic organ and choral music, but also a lot of attention to ambient sound effects, like the clanking or swords and armor, the splashing of oars in the Thames, and the rustling of the court attire. As in The Godfather, this film juxtaposes religious music and icons against episodes of intensely dramatic violence to illustrate the hypocritical role of religions in perpetrating violence.

The highlight of this film is a superlative performance by Cate Blanchett. Blanchett not only looks the part of Elizabeth, but ably handles the transition from innocent and naïve young lady, to an initially uncertain young monarch learning as she goes, to, finally, the supremely dominant inspiration of a nation's golden era. She starts out rutting with Robert (Dudley, Duke of Leicester) and ends up taking all the measure of the menacing Duke of Norfolk. Blanchett handles the transformation adroitly. Blanchett won a Golden Globe award for Best Actress for this brilliant performance.

Though it is clearly Blanchett who carries this film and makes it worth watching, she is ably supported by a fine cast. As Norfolk, Christopher Eccleston (The Others) is utterly menacing. He struts about in an intimidating manner and faces death bravely. Geoffrey Rush (Shakespeare in Love) is sublimely cool as the hard-nosed and ruthless Walsingham. Richard Attenborough (I'm All Right Jack) is endearing as the nagging Sir William Cecil. I thought James Frain (Hilary and Jackie) particularly effective as the Spanish ambassador. Daniel Craig (Lara Croft: Tomb Raider) was highly effective as the frightening black-cloaked monk-assassin. Vincent Cassel (Hate) went way over the top as d'Anjou in a way that will cause viewers to either love his performance or hate it. I rather enjoyed it. Joseph Fiennes was so-so as the male love interest, Robert Dudley. He did better work the same year in Shakespeare in Love. I didn't care much for Fanny Ardant's (Ridicule) depiction of Mary of Guise as something resembling a common tart.

Bottom-Line: This film was nominated for seven Oscars, winning only the trophy for make-up. Its other nominations were for Best Picture, Best Actress, Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, Best Costume Design, and Best Original Score. Blanchett probably deserved to win the Oscar for Best Actress, but at least won the Golden Globe. The British Film Institute rates this film as the 71st best British film all-time. I'd say that's about right. I'm rating this film at four-stars, docking it one star from maximum mainly for some script weaknesses and melodramatic excesses.

Recommended:
Yes

Video Occasion: Fit for Friday Evening
Suitability For Children: Not suitable for Children of any age