Elizabeth: The Golden Age

Is a 2007 sequel to the 1998 film Elizabeth, directed by Shekhar Kapur and produced by Universal Pictures and Working Title Films. I think the movie was made so that it will emphasize: the image of the Virgin Queen, the fervor with which he ruled and was committed to his country. The only problem with this movie, in my opinion, is that to attract attention of the audience, many historical facts were changed, which distorts the knowledge of history. Its lead Cate Blanchett has been reported as saying: "It's terrifying that we are growing up with this very illiterate bunch of children, who are somehow being taught that film is fact, when in fact it's invention". Some of the simpler fictions are:

-      -Charles Howard, 1st Earl of Nottingham, says, "We're losing too many ships." In reality, not a single English ship was lost during the battle.

-      -The film depicts Elizabeth being advised by Dr John Dee. Historically, Dee was travelling the continent throughout the period depicted and did not return until more than a year after the defeat of the Armada. Elizabeth's actual main advisor and chief minister, Sir William Cecil, is omitted from the film altogether.

-      -The lady-in-waiting, Bess Throckmorton, in fact became pregnant with Walter Raleigh's child in the summer of 1591, three years after the defeat of the Armada, not immediately before.

-      -When Sir Walter Raleigh entered the Elizabethan court, the sovereign was about 53 years old. So it could not be as fascinating as Cate Blanchett has 38 years. Nor is it possible, therefore, that he received numerous suitors in order to marry and have children, as shown at the beginning of the film. In fact, Erik of Sweden annulled his marriage proposal after her trip to England was interrupted by the death of his father in 1560, when Elizabeth was only 27 years old. Not to mention that Erik died the same year 1577, well before the date on which we placed the film. Something that also happened to Ivan the Terrible in 1585. And on the other hand, Carlos II of Austria was not yet a teenager in 1585 but he was about 45 years old and was married with eleven children responsible man. These scenes, however, did indeed occur at the beginning of the Reign of Elizabeth.

So, this taught me that after seeing a good movie I should investigate more about the author, interesting facts and obviously also about the origin and veracity of the film.

In an interview, Shekhar Kapur, director of the film answered ​ the following question:

Would you define this is as historical fiction or historical fantasy?
“I would describe all history as fiction and interpretation. When I just finished this film, somebody sent me a script of Mary Queen of Scots. I read it just for the interest of it, and it was a completely different interpretation of history. Elizabeth is an absolute bitch and Mary of Scots is this great romantic novel being. Now you ask the Irish, and they have a totally different aspect of it. Ask any Catholic and they’ll give you a totally different aspect of history.”

This makes me realize that the director wanted to give to the history his own interpretation, regardless of how reality was, as different countries have different visions of what was the Elizabeth's reign.

Finally, I want to leave a very interesting video that sparked my doubt about the history we have been taught. We all can have a different perspective of what we see and hear, we should not be influenced, so we always have to investigate more... Unfortunately is in Spanish, but I hope you like it, share opinions with me.