Belated Best Picture Vote

I don't know what movie I was rooting for this past year at the Oscars. I think I wanted United 93, but since it wasn't nominated, I may have ignored the best picture category. Anyway, I finally saw The Queen, which was the only one I didn't see in theaters and am now casting my vote for it as best picture of the year.

Admittedly, I am biased because I saw Stephen Frears speak at the DGA and it was a total delight...but the movie itself was, I thought, incredibly well done, had resonant themes, and painted a character that was different and yet familiar to me.

One of the greatest women I know is my grandmother - my father's mom who is from the same war generation as The Queen and Helen Mirran reminded me, in this movie, of my grandmother. Her quiet, almost immovable, strength. You just don't see that today. They way she carried herself, with dignity - it seems like such a stupid word, but how many people do you see around you that you can consider dignified? It's odd.

But the movie is also about something else, it's about how you react to what people think of you. To see this incredibly strong character being forced into acting against her will is pretty awesome. And then there are the two best parts of the movie - great acting and great filmmaking, where the Queen cries to herself and the camera is behind her, so we can't really see and into the stag....and then, the scene when she goes to see the flowers for Diana and asks the little girl if she can place the flowers down for her and the little girl says, "No. The flowers are for you."

I never cry in movies and this almost moved me to tears.