Kerry- I just got home from "experiencing" The Queen. MANY feelings within me watching this AWESOME movie !!! My thoughts later.
I'm so pleased you went along to see "The Queen", Doug, and enjoyed it so much. I thought it was nothing short of brilliant.
The scene that particularly touched me the most was when the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh were returning to Buckingham Palace in London and stopped the car unexpectedly to view the flowers and cards laid out at the gates of the Palace, in memory of Diana.
The Queen turned slowly away from the piled-up tributes and walked towards the crowd milling behind the barricades nearby. Even though there may have been a slightly hostile edge wafting through the crowd up until that moment (you know why), as soon as the Queen walked towards them, greeting them, accepting flowers, the expressions on their faces changed markedly. The director and photographer captured beautifully that moment every British subject feels when in the presence of their monarch - a combination of abject, knee-shaking, cold-sweat inducing terror (please don't let her stop in front of me), combined with absolute exhilaration (gosh, I'm sooo close to her, I hope I get to shake her hand). The shot where the camera slowly pans along the row of faces (mainly women) standing behind the barricades, as the Queen walks past, is unforgettable. Not only does every face reflect those combined emotions of terror and elation, but they also radiate an almost beatific warmth towards their beloved monarch. And I was brought totally undone by the way each woman, in turn, as the Queen passed, attempted, as best she could, to curtsy respectfully to their sovereign. Definitely an unforgettable cinematic moment for me.