The Oscars Are Nearing
A Queen and a "Princess"
This is, without a doubt, one of the most amazing facts of this still young year. I have seen more movies than I have read books. Twelve movies so far! And I still have two more of the Best Picture nominees to see. (Of course you can see a movie in a couple hours where a book takes a lot longer than that.) Anyway, on to this past week's movies.

The Queen
Nominations: Best Picture, Actress- Helen Mirren, Director, Original Screenplay, Score, Costume
This movie is Helen Mirren. Period. She gives the performance of a lifetime as Queen Elizabeth II in the days following the death of Princess Diana. (No, this is not the princess of the title of this post.) Here we see the conflict between tradition and modernization, democracy and monarchy, an old way of looking at the world and a new one. Reliving the week after Princess Di's death we get to watch what it might have looked like inside the Royal Family living through an unprecedented event and having to struggle with whether to live in the old ways or the new ones.

The anti-monarchists among Tony Blair's staff are pictured a little too flippant and even cardboard characters as is Prince Philip to some extent. But that may be that they simply appear that way against the incredible performance of Helen Mirren. It is drama of the highest order, however, without the blood and gore that we often see these days. It is a movie that shows the complexity of a changing, even postModern world. It does it beautifully.

Pan's Labyrinth (El Laberinto del Fauno)
Nominations: Foreign Language Film, Original Screenplay, Cinematography, Score, Makeup, Art Direction
Como se dice "WOW!" en espanol? This is one remarkable, scary, moving, challenging, magnificent movie. It has already become the biggest Spanish language film in box-office gross- ever. Some believe it should be nominated (and win) the overall best picture. I would be hard-pressed to disagree. Part fantasy, part drama set in Franco's Spain in 1944, this move gets downright creepy. And that's the drama part.

This movie is not for the faint of heart. The creepiness of Franco's fascism is almost as terrifying as Hitler's. The creepy underground characters of Ofelia's fantasy world don't help that feeling. But one comes away with the strong opinion that the underworld of fantasy is far less scary than the reality faced in the film.

As with any film that takes the chances that Guillermo del Toro has taken with this film, there are many ways to look at it. Resistance is importance- resistance is futile. Fantasy is an escape- fantasy is a source of hope. Taken metaphorically I saw little Ofelia as the soul of Spain, the "princess," no longer in control of her own life, taken over by the incarnate evil of her step-father- the fascists. But there's hope in the ancient- the labyrinth- that may lead to redemption- or not.

This movie evokes the best of magical realism and leaves you with enough questions to keep you searching and thinking for a long time. The horror and beauty and power and delight and fear - well, I won't spoil any of that for you. It is remarkable. Author Theresa Williams said on her blog that the movie evokes the spirit of Spanish poet Frederico Lorca who was killed by the fascists. She adds:

The movie is very rich, but it is disturbing at times, and even gory, in the way
of Grimm Fairytales and 20th Century War.

I could go on. Just go see it.

The Table of Malcontents Blog at Wired has had a good discussion going on the film. There are some spoilers in some of the posts.

And Coming Soon: Amazing Grace
This is the 200th Anniversary of the abolition of slavery in Great Britain thanks to the work of one William Wilberforce. I have been seeing the trailer for the upcoming movie celebrating that act of hope and courage using the song written by an ex-slave trader turned cleric as the title and theme. It looks interesting but then so do most trailers.

Richard at Connexions and Bene Diction have linked to Ten Things You Need to Know about William Wilberforce. Here's my link to it.