There was a scene in The Queen that showed a vast expanse of Scottish land, and stuck at the middle of the a freely-flowing shallow river was a rugged jeep. And on the other side of the vehicle, there was HRH Queen Elizabeth II in ordinary clothes, wearing boots that rise up to her knees. The jeep she was driving in caught a rock and it couldn't push any longer. She was sitting there, waiting for rescue, looking out to the horizon. And then, there were tears falling into her face. It was a scene of proper silence, a moment by which we knew she's not only a queen - but a human.
This was where The Queen succeeds in all its being. The humanization of such dignified icon brings so much tangible realism to this fictional undertaking of factual events. Focusing on the events that had befallen right before and a week after Princess Diana's death, the film was a story on how the monarchy struggled to gain its confidence and sustain its dignity. We somehow felt that this was all real, yet apparently it persisted to be a fictional account of real events, in which the real story or the mystery behind Diana's death was still left unsolved. Therefore, for the film's sake, we should not take this film as one of those based-on-real-events story but tackle on this one as a momentary fiction. Yet a fiction with marvelous bearing.

It starts with Tony Blair being recently elected as Prime Minister in 1997 in a voting landslide, and walks to meet the Queen for the first time. Of course, the bows and curtsies followed, and he was being reminded by the Queen herself about tradition of the monarchy. That was all being put to test when they woke up one night to receive the news that Princess Diana just met a horrible accident in Paris while fleeing away from the papparazzis. That news alone shooked the monarchy foundation, and as the royal family flees in a private estate in Scotland, the press claimed it that they were avoiding the demise of the People's Princess.

This was where The Queen suddenly became an important film. Important in the sense that it could be a major target for bigger controversy, and important in the sense that it shows us the perpetual struggle between following our traditions and the demanding coerces of modernity. It was perfectly demonstrated by the scene where Tony Blair (played sophisticatedly by Michael Sheen) calls the Queen and asks her to raise the flag in the Buckingham Palace in respect to the British people and to pay tribute to Princess Diana's death by giving her a public funeral. To this, the Queen explained her beliefs that the flag is not only the people's flag, it was as well her own, in which it must be only raised by the time of her presence in the palace. She also explains that she could not give Diana a public royal funeral since she was no longer a part of the royal family anymore (the divorce was already in effect between Diana and Charles). She did not flee to Scotland to avoid the press and media, and out of the limelight, but to share silent grief, privately, to the two boys who had just lost their mother. It was obvious that Blair was indeed a modern man and he exuded modernity, but the Queen was torn between choosing what is right and what is easy. Right things don't have to be easy. They're more difficult to do and takes great courage to face them.

This is a great film, and it's not rubbish as some might say. People might take this by heart and utterly believe it as real events. Of course, the events were real, it was the story of the film was made-up. The moments were dramatised, but also humanized with brilliance. It was obvious that Stephen Frears had directed this film with effort.

All hail to Helen Mirren for giving out such a fine performance as HRH Queen Elizabeth II. She shines like the topmost jewel in a crown full of jewels. She gives a layered acting on the character, gives a scale that's both intimidating and stupefying. Yes, carve her name to this February's Oscar Best Actress nomination. If she couldn't get any, then critics on the Academy must be blind or maybe heartless. Mirren is actually an Oscar front-runner now, and she's taking hurdles no matter how high it could be for portraying a woman raised in convictions, of dignity, of traditions and glorified manners; a woman who swore to serve her counrty for all her will.

The Queen is one of 2006's best films. There's no doubt about that. One that would say it's a bad film would have to be shallow, sorry if I need to say that. Most of all, the film is brilliant in a way it's a human-scaled drama, a touching film with moments, a featherly-light comedy, and most of all, a movie that carefully studies its main character.

Rating: A