Who's the best? (Elizabeth Film Review)

Elizabeth is an intense wartime drama based on the great religious conflict between Catholics and Protestants.

In 1585 the powerful Spanish Empire was represented by King Philip (an extremist catholic devout) who had dragged Europe down into the Saint War; only England rebelled against him governed by a Protestant Queen.

Philip was the head of the famous Enterprise (the main catholic goal to become the unique dominant religion which would be able to finish with all Protestants).

On the other hand, Queen Elizabeth had to deal with many other issues such as, to find a husband, to become pregnant for leaving an heir of the crown, and so on. In fact, she did not care about people’s opinions, she was aware of their speculations about her virginity or possible infertility. Therefore, Spanish town strongly believed that Mary Stuart was the best queen for England, because she was a devoutly Roman Catholic and she also had a son which made her worthy of the throne.

While giving emphasis to the historical issues, the film shows the other side of the reign explaining the difficult part of being powerful and venerable (how can a Queen be appraised or loved because of being herself and not because her possessions?). But, as a result, the film gives more emphasis to the comedy and the mischievous love stories of Queen Elizabeth.

In terms of the characters, there is a reasonable number of them and it is very clear which are the important ones (Queen Elizabeth, Philip of Spain, Mary Stuart, Mr.Walsingham, Mr. Raleigh and Miss Elizabeth Throckmorton).

For the above reasons, I think it is a good film that makes you realise that power have two faces (the good one and the bad one) and how always religion has been a matter of power. But, sometimes you can get sort of confused with the other details related to the private like of Queen Elizabeth which make the film more catching for the audience (of course).