Review: Elizabeth, the Golden Age

My sis and I took a delightful few hours off last Saturday to watch "Elizabeth, the Golden Age" at the local theatre. I don't think it's going to do very well - despite it being the day after opening, we were virtually alone in the big theatre. There was at most 10 of us there in a room with enough seating for 100+.

This movie covers the time when Elizabeth I was around 50 years of age, ending shortly after the conclusion of Drake's naval action against the Spanish Armada. Yes, it's still very much focused on the whole Catholics vs. Protestants angle but that reflected the politics of the time.

It was a good show, better paced than its predecessor. Through association with my sis, who is a world-class competitive costumer with international awards on her mantel, I have developed an appreciation for good period costume design. And this show has some truly beautiful costuming! We compared notes after the show was over and my sis was all abuzz with incorporating some of the designs into her future costumes.

Me, I'm just frustrated that because of the differences in skin shading, I can't wear over half the outfits in that show even if I wanted to. I wish I could wear blue and white. *sigh* Having said that...I'm completely won over by rich burgundy and cream, which *is* something I can wear. A nice period dress with huge hoopy gauze wing-like shoulder extensions and high Elizabethan collars - oh my! I'm still unsure if the attendant cost of having to stuff oneself into a corset to fit those impossibly narrow waistlines is really worth it though.

For the guys, in case you're bored/lost/don't care/already asleep from the previous paragraph, I think this sums it up quite well, yes?

Regardless, I'm going to have to get the sewing machine out and bug my dear sis into helping me make an Elizabethan dress for sci-fi/fantasy conventions once I'm employed again and have the cash to buy the materials and pattern. Given that the ladies of the court at the time required ladies-in-waiting to get dressed, there's definitely a design challenge to be overcome. Not only do I need to be able to dress unassisted, I also need to be able to still fit into the driver's seat of my car to get to the convention. The lower edge of the dress will require anti-static spraying prior to wearing or else it'll get filthy before I even step out the house. Most importantly, I have to remember to sew a small invisible pocket somewhere so I can stuff my keys and ID - Elizabethan women do not generally carry purses. Ah...the logistics of fashion! It'll be worth it though...

Costuming aside, little details were eating away at me as I watched the show. Once more, historical accuracy got tossed aside in favour of the storyline. I positively detested the fact that they took Sir Walter Raleigh's personal history and melded it with Sir Francis Drake's action at the Battle of Gravelines and the subsequent defeat of the Spanish fleet. That and the complete absence of fleet cohesion shown. It looked like the CGI department took a couple of ship models, cloned them like crazy and kaplonked them on a watery tableau. There was no hint of formations. None. I'm assured that they do move during a naval engagement unlike the bobbing in place with no lateral movement shown for most of that scene. Neither do ship captains have the luxury of conferring upon the flagship during a naval battle. I'm a little uncertain on this one, but the size of the cannons shown seemed wrong. However, they did get a lot of other things right, credit where credit's due. They also do engage each other at suicidally short range as shown. The English ships were mainly swift-moving frigate-like ships, roughly Golden Hind sized. The Spanish had mostly galleon-sized transports, which were entirely appropriate for a naval invasion of Albion. No Napoleonic-era ships of the line here - yay for some accuracy!

What? Simply because I'm a girl doesn't mean I've never studied naval history nor played Wooden Ships Iron Men or Close Action you know. :P

Cate Blanchett did a pretty credible job as the queen. Geoffrey Rush wasn't as dynamic as he was in the first movie but carried himself well enough. Clive Owen was quite dashing as Sir Walter Raleigh. Samantha Morton did flash her neck a lot - is there any wonder her gaolers wanted to do something about it?

All in all not a half bad movie despite the deliberate mangling of history. It was worth a full-priced ticket but not worth seeing again after that except on DVD. It's a Hollywood production but a restrained one (thank goodness!) - if you want a more historically accurate treatment of that era, please watch HBO's production of Elizabeth I starring Dame Helen Mirren.