Elizabeth the Young to Elizabeth the Queen

First, I'd like to say that after watching Elizabeth, I have a much greater appreciation for any person who assumes a position of power. I could never imagine having to make the daily decisions that a leader of a country has to make on a daily basis and that is the aspect that makes this movie so fantastic.

Over the course of the film, we see a young, carefree and romantic Elizabeth transform into the the more fierce, cold but ultimately powerful Queen Elizabeth. In the beginning of the film, she is not necessarily concerned with what is happening around the world even though she knows she is a princess. The first time Elizabeth is shown to the audience, she is frolicking in a meadow along with the other members of the cult who follows her. Okay... They are not actually a cult but I swear they followed her like one in every scene. They even watched her have sex. Kinda awkward.

Then Elizabeth becomes queen and, as the film progresses, the audience sees Elizabeth make multiple choices that do not necessarily go the way she'd prefer. She makes a decision to have an affair with none other than the dude from Shakespeare in Love. She ignores the advice of her council from occasion to occasion and her following and support begin to decline as the threats against her become stronger and stronger.

This all takes a drastic toll on her as a person and slowly she transforms into the Elizabeth they teach us about in school: The Queen Elizabeth who was responsible for England's Golden Age. She paints her face white and says she will never marry because she is "Married to England" and sits on the throne as the film ends, effectively giving me goosebumps.

Personally, I loved seeing her transform from a frolicking girl to a ruthless queen who asserts her power. The film made her seem like such an underdog in the beginning that it was so rewarding to see her not take any shit by the end of it. Too often, history classes and textbooks focus on only the events that the public would considered to be "memorable" but never really explain how the leaders got to that point in their lives.

In history classes, we learn about the terrible things that Hitler did but never really discuss how he became the dictator he was. Is it not ironic how history often grazes over the true history behind a story?

Speaking about the film as a whole though, the outfits and make up were spot on in this film and I kept thinking back to all the portraits we looked at together as a class. They put a substantial amount of detail into the costume design and the result was fantastic.

Finally, I loved Cate Blanchett's performance as Elizabeth in the film. The one scene that stood out to me was how she was rehearsing her speech before she spoke before those in the church in an effort to unite the church system. Her acting was simply phenomenal. It was only her in that scene and she was able to make herself weep and go through all the emotions that a normal person would in order to get the speech perfect. Bravo!