Retro Film Review: Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007)

One of the better examples of how Clinton's era differs from Bush's would be a comparison of the 1998 historical film Elizabeth with its 2007 sequel Elizabeth: The Golden Age. Both films depict the life of the same character, share a large part of the cast, screenwriters and directors, but it is quite clear that there is more than just a mere ten years between them - these films were made in vastly different worlds.

Like the original, which received numerous accolades, mostly due to the masterful Cate Blanchett in the title role, this film deals with the life of Elizabeth I (1533 - 1603), the English queen that many consider to be one of the greatest and most capable rulers in the history of the British Isles, or a stateswoman whose reign was marked by an unprecedented flourishing of economy and culture, and laying the foundations of the future British Empire. While the first film dealt with Elizabeth as a teenager who, after a series of bloody intrigues, comes to the throne of a religiously divided country, the second film begins in the year 1585 when Elizabeth is firmly on the throne. While the unmarried and already middle-aged ruler, who has earned the nickname the Virgin Queen, is besieged by suitors in the form of European princes, her main problem is the King Philip II of Spain (played by Jordi Molla), fanatical Catholic who is preparing to use the vast resources of the Spanish colonial empire to overthrow the Protestant queen with the help of the Invincible Armada and thus return England to the fold of the Catholic Church. Dangers for Elizabeth also threaten from within, from the English Catholics who are plotting an assassination after which the throne should be inherited by Mary Stuart (played by Samatha Morton), the Scottish queen and Catholic whom Elizabeth had imprisoned. Elizabeth, however, is far more intrigued by navigators and adventurers like Walter Raleigh (played by Clive Owen), who entertains her with stories of the New World.

When Shekhar Kapur made Elizabeth nine years earlier, both critics and public welcomed the film. In the character of the young, charismatic, free-thinking and capable ruler, one could easily see a kind of female variant of 16th Century Bill Clinton - a character with whom one could identify, while her enemies, despite the explicit violence and bloodshed in the film, were merely ghosts of the past like harmless Republican senators foaming over trivialities like Lewinsky affair. Nine years later, Elizabeth was much closer , especially in minds of left liberal critics, to the character and work of George W. Bush. Kapur's film was, therefore, described as nothing but a brazen and "politically incorrect" celebration of Anglo-American imperialism and the Global War on Terror, especially since character of Philip resembled Osama Bin Laden.

The negative reviews were further fuelled by the fact that Kapur had made a much worse film than Elizabeth. The main reason is the scriptwriting mess caused by attempts to "spice up" a deadly serious portrayal of one of the most dramatic events in English and world history with cheap melodrama, or a kind of love triangle involving Elizabeth, Raleigh and court lady Bess Throckmorton (played by Abbie Cornish, the only pleasant surprise of the film). The portrayal of espionage and political intrigues, on the other hand, will cause yawning or a "deja vu" effect, especially given that they have been much better handled in a series of acclaimed British television shows set in Elizabethan era, and that Kapur's film has been castrated by a PG-13 MPAA rating. The biggest disappointment is the great naval clash between the English and the Armada which, despite all the CGI effects, looks rushed, unclear, while simultaneously gasping in pathos and English nationalism that seems to have strayed from propaganda films made during World War II. It goes without saying that this film, in good old Hollywood fashion, took too many liberties with a whole series of historical facts in order to achieve easier dramatisation.

Although this The Golden Age is essentially watchable, Queen Elizabeth and her golden years still deserved a much better film than this one, which gives away all the shortcomings and limitations of the unfortunate times in which it was created.

RATING: 4/10 (+)

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