Who comes out the best?

Tony Blair is a Pro-American and a supporter of George 'Idiiotic' Bush.

"Did you think that I would harm her?"-The Phantom

Tony Blair comes out the best, in my opinion, even though the rabid partisans would have far less kinder words.

The Queen did as well as could be expected, living in & being in a box that allowed hardly any "space" to be human & confused humility with humiliation. Really, tens of millions of socialized royalty paid by the suffering & humiliated poor people? And for what? Comfort, tradition, egoic glamour & distraction from the hidden agenda of whichever current politicians are raking over the $ & life-force of the populace. A sucky vampire like, involuntary "trade" that only looks impressive for everyones romantic mythology of it all. NOT that I'm any kind of fan of Tony Blair -no, no, no. Oh well. I don't mean to step on toes, that's just my view of it for your consideration - IF you choose. My apology if you see things otherwise.

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Blair, undoubtedly. In fact, despite this being The Queen, it's him that's the protagonist as she spends the best part of the film, for the want of a better term, "not doing anything".

In the middle of this, is the British public, stirred up into ridiculous levels of grief by the media. I do not begrudge people for being saddened by the death of a public figure, but it went to ludicrous lengths in the week following Diana's death. The people sleeping on the streets, laying flowers and giving hysterical responses to TV reporters simply used this sad occasion for the world's biggest pity party. For many of those "mourners", it was an excuse to be miserable, rather than a reason. And when the Royal Family misjudged the mood, their aimless sorrow turned into united anger. They were being "wronged" by the Royals too.

On a personal level, I suspect the only sorrow The Queen felt towards Diana's death was the loss it meant to her grandsons. Prior to Diana's death, the family had been broken in two and it had created a "them and her" mentality. Diana had been public in her criticisms of the "establishment". She was a nuisance to The Queen at the time of her death (hence the batty conspiracy theories) and it's not difficult to see why The Queen would not care for her.

Unfortunately, The Queen is the servant to the people and her personal feelings have to come second. While most ex-mother-in-laws would not have to be vocal if their former daughter-in-law died, she, as sovereign, needed to be. Probably not to the level that the public wanted by the time of the funeral, but the delay in acting meant her response needed to be amplified. Her greatest failure was waiting almost a week. An initial, impassioned, statement on the day would have saved her from being the target of a hysterical nation's vitriol a few days, and countless newspaper articles, later.

Blair understood this. And, yes, he benefited greatly in that week. The film paints him as a bit of a selfless hero in this, which is a little hard to take. He often seems to be pushing the Royal Family in the right direction for their own good (hence his outburst towards the end), while Alastair Campbell and Cherie are far more cynical and mean-spirited about the whole thing. Whether you buy this part of the film depends on your political leanings, I guess.

I thought Prince Philip was poorly portrayed. I cannot believe he is that indifferent to the world around him. Cromwell did a fine job with what he was given. I wonder if any British actors turned down that role?

Queen Elizabeth was fairly portrayed considering her 45 year reign and her roots in WWII, the abdication of her uncle and the reign of her father. She is very different from the rest of us. Having lived in Britain, I have a very small insight into the character of her generation.

Great movie.

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I just saw The Queen for the second time. Helen Mirren certainly deserved her oscar and all of her other awards. She was sensational. The Queen came off the best.