Elizabeth R, An Unlikely Head of State

 Elizabeth R, An Unlikely Head of State

A video production

Elizabeth R is a historical dramatization of the life of Elizabeth I from her years as a youthful princess who cares about her frail brother on the throne of England through her battles with powerful and cunning men within the nation and those in neighboring France and Spain as well as the threat of the shrewd Queen Mary and her Catholic entourage, to her final years that would lead to the grand union of England and Scotland.

This BBC docudrama was released as a TV miniseries in the UK 10 March 1971—a year before it reached the US. Glenda Jackson appeared to grow into the character of Queen Elizabeth I as the series progressed through the historic events that served as a prelude to the emerging European empires, which in a few decades would carry their fractious religious and political differences to the Americas.

What’s so different from other films is the careful attention to the historic characters and their conflicts. Despite the distance in time aptly represented in costume, set, and language, we sense the internal tension of a strong woman who struggles with the internalized socioreligious worldview stereotype of the feeble woman whose primary purpose in life is to marry and produce a son. Again and again, we see Elizabeth’s curious mix of savvy insight and naïveté as her internal struggles play out in a world where powerful English men, differently influenced by passionate commitment to faith, country, and themselves, pursue avenues of power that left unchecked would topple the crown and take the nation to the brink of civil war.

The series also differs from many histories in its attention to the role of competing Catholic and Protestant Christianities in the wake of her father’s decisive break with the Pope, which branded the English as heretics in the eyes of the French and Spanish who would gladly act as the hands of God to rid England of the chief heretic and ironically replace her with another woman, the Catholic Queen Mary. The religious language placed in the mouths of these power-hungry characters reveal the great influence religious spirituality has had on so much of world history. Interestingly for a modern viewer some 450 years after the first Elizabethan ear, much of the population in the United States still identify with one of these great branches of Christianity where devoted Catholics and enthusiastic Protestants still wage war to win sociomoral victories although now they are often partners in the battle for power over the laws and policies that control the lives of ordinary folks.

Finally, I think it worth noting that despite winning many awards, it’s decisively not a Hollywood production. We learn of the failed Spanish Armada from those who were there, which keeps our focus on the decision-makers rather than the dramatic imagery associated with men and ships blown to bits. Although we glimpse the horrors of those who live in the shadow of the axe, the decapitations reveal the limits of freedom of speech and religion in the circles of power.

Perhaps you can tell that I recommend this film and would certainly give it a five of five star-rating. However, it’s not for anyone who prefer more gripping dramas filled with action scenes that depict the era’s bloody battles, sexual encounters, and larger-than-life film sets. Even as I write this, I wonder what the likes of Steven Spielberg could do with a 21st century remake.

Notes

Available on DVD as a set at AMAZON, OVER 400 ratings average above 4 stars.

Time to view = 9 hours

I streamed the series 6 episodes on BritBox. [Sometimes Free Trials are available]

Historic time frame 1549 to the Queen's death 24 March 1603

Some of the Actors: 

Glenda Jackson, Elizabeth I

Ronald Hines, Sir William Cecil, Lord Burghley

Stephen Murray, Robert Hardy, 

Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester

Vivian Pickles, Mary, Queen of Scots

John Woodvine, Sir Francis Drake

John Nettleton, Sir Francis Bacon

Nicholas Selby, Sir Walter Raleigh