Obligatory Oscar Post #3

Oscar Nominee: The Queen
Some critics have stated that The Queen is more movie-of-the-week than Best Picture material. But it is this film’s ability to take a story from (relatively) recent history and not sensationalize it that makes it worthy of praise. At first the viewer feels she is watching a group of actors do imitations of famous British people. This feeling fades very quickly as the characters are allowed to develop. This is where the exceptional talents of Helen Mirren (as Her Majesty) and Michael Sheen (as a young, promising Tony Blair) make all of the difference.
Another point of criticism is that several scenes in the film have been fabricated. The plot of the film is well known so the movie cannot draw its power from shock or suspense. It must instead reveal aspects of the characters that would be impossible for the viewer to see in real life. Watching the Queen of England watch T.V. is more fascinating than one might think. Imagining certain aspects of the story allows the movie to be more than reenactments of clips from BBC news.
The most inspiring thing about The Queen is the commitment the filmmakers had to traditional narrative storytelling. It is through well crafted dialogue, acting, and pacing that The Queen becomes an engrossing picture. Too often in recent years directors have resorted to cinematic trickery (flashbacks and flashes forward, elliptical plotlines, interweaving stories, revealing the narrative backwards, etc.) to make an average movie seem revolutionary. If The Queen had been a poorly made film the viewer would know. The movie leaves itself with nothing to hide behind.