how i never got the whole english monarchy thing until now (kinda)

"the queen"
starring helen mirren, michael sheen and james cromwell
directed by stephen frears
written by peter morgan
viewed at the kabuki theater, san francisco

even though i was an english lit major, i never really got the reasons why england still had the whole monarchy thing - you know, past their linear ties to times past. i realized that the king, back in the day, was the ruling body. but with parliament and the prime minister now with so much power, why were these people idolized other than that their blood is the blood of kings and queens from years ago? that was my american longview. totally didn't get it.

but, within the first five minutes of this film, queen elizabeth squashed all that when she tells tony blair, "it's my government. you have to ask me of you want to run it." oh. got it. done. parliament is a bunch of independent contractors who are hired by the people to run the government that's owned by the house of windsor.

and, above the whole monarchy thing, i never really got the whole princess di thing either. i mean, she's royalty, and therefore, above mere citizens. and when she died, i always figured that the public outpouring of grief was because of her celebrity, that she was a well-known pretty public figure. that was also my american longview. and yeah, now i know how wrong i was.

this movie is about all of that, but mostly about how you can be so insular and completely lose touch with reality. i'm sure that's the deal with the english monarchy. they live privileged lives unlike and above those of their subjects in their country. and this movie is a microcosm of that, but in a time when the country needed them the most - the days after the death of their beloved princess.

it's a remarkable film of old traditions bumping up against modern times. and it's all corralled by helen mirren, who is completely mesmerizing at her royal majesty. if she doesn't win an oscar, they probably shouldn't hand one out.

plus, michael sheen is fantastic as tony blair (although i always thought that tony blair was just a zany martin short character). and james cromwell was great as usual as prince philip.

there's so much to like about this film. hell, i learned a ton just by watching it. and i've just scratched the surface of what it's about - although i still don't know what the royal family exactly does.

it's the second best movie i've seen this year, behing "the departed". and that's nothing to be ashamed of.