Elizabeth: The Golden Age

Just been to see this film. It was pretty good, visually stunning, good plot, plenty of action, much less gratuitous sex then the previous one. Overall, very enjoyable, though I wouldn't use it as a history lesson (if you want a flavour of the historical inaccuracies try this).

One aspect of the film which disappointed (but didn't surprise me) was the way in which the Spanish & the English Catholics were portrayed. They were all one dimensional caricatures of villains, with no depth and no attempt to understand their motivation. Many have seen this film as deeply anti-Catholic. I wouldn't be too harsh towards it about this - though perhaps I am just so used to the anti-Catholic bias of the media in this country that it doesn't affect me so much.

What disturbed me more were the obvious parallels with the current climate of Islamaphobia in the West. The baddies were all swarthy, bearded, foreigners; religious fanatics chanting in strange languages. Whereas the heroes were all very white and good looking. The director even admitted that he was deliberately drawing such parallels - but why do it in such a cartoon-like way.

The issues facing society in the 1580s were incredibly complex, just as they are today, and such a simplistic portrayal helps no one and reinforces negative stereotypes.

I do find it rather ironic, that the Spanish, who had just spent several hundred years driving the Muslims out of the Iberian peninsula, were called upon to stand in for the "Islamic menace".

Then again perhaps the parallels are not so bad, for most of the last 400 years Catholics have been persecuted in Britain, most recently in Northern Ireland. Anti-catholic bigotry is still rife. A few years ago I was in hospital and a priest came to visit me. One of the other patients (an Ulsterman) became very abusive, actually claiming the priest was somehow breaking the law by bringing me communion - bizarre, but true.

Having faced such behaviour more than once (at school I was told I was an IRA supporter because I was Catholic - I'm not even Irish!), I have a great deal of sympathy with the Muslim community, who are now bearing the brunt of such frenzied hysteria.

Sadly the Muslim community is not alone, as this article from the BBC news/Wales website shows: Race claim in Polish man's murder. Xenophobia is a hideous disease disfiguring this country at present, we all have a responsibility to treat others with decency and respect - but, try telling that to the mindless, Godless, Sun-reading, beer-swilling ape in the street!

I feel I should apologise for my previous comment, so here goes - I am very, VERY sorry to all apes, you are, by and large, peaceful, noble creatures and are nothing like the people I was talking about. There is only one primate capable of such evil and that is homo sapiens. The original Planet of the Apes films make this point very cleverly and are well worth watching.

Hatred and bigotry sadden me whenever I see them, I earnestly pray that one day we may all learn to come to understand that "God has no favourites" and that we are all his children.

If you truly came to realise that your greatest enemy was in fact your beloved brother, there would be no more wars, no more hatred and no more killing - I would that it were so.