the queen - ang pelikulang sarap ulit-ulitin. ang dami-daming nangyayari, hindi mo malaman kung saan tututok. ang mga aktwal na clips mula sa pagkamatay ni princess diana ay ginamit 'di lang para maging makatotohanan ang mga eksena (halimbawa, ang mga taong nagtipon-tipon sa harap ng buckinghim palace) kundi bilang parte ng pagkukuwento (at pagkumento) nina stephen frears at peter morgan.

i laud frears (the director) and morgan (the screenplay writer) for creating a story that does not merely retell events people already know. with the inclusion of numerous news clips from that time in september of 1997, it could've been convenient to orchestrate a cut-and-paste project. instead, frears utilized the clips by yanking them out of their chronological origin and juxtapose them with parallel events pertinent to diana's death and, the subject of the film, the queen's slow response to address the british public and support them in their grief. one such scintillating example is the paris tunnel scene, in which shots of the paparazzi on motorcycles hounding diana and dodi were interspersed with early clips of the then-diana spencer in 1981 rushing to her car as photographers clicked away, and later instances in which diana had to fend off the paparazzi in her entire public life.

but i have to say the most chilling scene (if only because of the way it was used) was that after the crowds outside westminster abbey gave a standing ovation to earl spencer's eulogy (of course blasting at the royal family), the invited guests inside started their own applause. close-up to queen elizabeth maintaining stoicism, then to tony blair sneaking a glance at the queen and back to the queen. then it was followed-up by an archive of diana in a white suit and hat slightly turning her head to the right straight to the camera with a steely look that, given the preceding scene, can only be interpreted as one of vindication.

which, really, is part of why the queen is brilliant filmmaking. the utilization of some news archive slightly out of context is, in a way, the reason why elizabeth's reaction to the death was widely perceived as unfeeling, unsympathetic, when she says over and over that she was trained to observe duty first above self. that they simply don't deal with tragedy with the ready tears and obvious remorse and why she couldn't understand why she needs to be with the people in their time of grief. she echoed this sentiment in the film's last scene with tony blair. she will never understand that week in september of 1997.

but in the end, queen elizabeth ii is still the reigning monarch, tony blair is on his way out and that week in september of 1997 will mark its tenth anniversary this year. already, i wonder how people who saw everything unfold on television will take to the remembrance of that day at the paris tunnel. it's clear that it is up to the viewer to attach his or her own remembrance of the ten years after that week in september of 1997 to lend resonance to what has happened to these people, the legacy of their actions and the way remembrance is conducted. elizabeth's monarchy was then threatened; now she is as active as ever. blair hoped to modernize the british government and shake up the constitution; now, his support of bush and the iraqi invasion has created a deep gash in his leadership and legitimacy.

and what of diana? mario testino's luminous photographs of her for vanity fair remain. paparazzi chasing celebrities is now a daily pastime. her sons are all grown-up and far beyond the tragedy of that year. as for prince charles, he finally married the love of his life. happy endings (or at least some semblance of it) do happen to those who were left behind.

i think this is the little-told tale amidst the complex, layered storytelling of the queen. early on in the film, as the press, the british public and even tony blair were balking at her non-reaction to the now-dead diana, what preoccupied her was the task of caring for the boys, the living who are now saddled with the burden of grieving for and celebrating their mother and moving on. so much attention is given to the cementing of the idol that is the deceased that we lose sight of infusing grace and dignity into the still-living, those who survived the deceased.