To be alive and witness a defining moment in history has a sort of intriguing aura to it. There are a few events that shocked us all, and one was the untimely death of Lady Diana Spencer, known to all as Princess Diana.

The Queen, written by Peter Morgan and directed by Stephen Frears, is essentially about the overly reserved reaction from Queen Elizabeth II toward the death of Princess Diana and the unpleasant response it stirred within her country. It's a concoction of real news clips and events mixed with a fictional plot that when brewed together make evident the noisy clash between the time-honored Royal family versus the modern British government and its people.

In one rumor shown in the movie, Queen Elizabeth, played by Helen Mirren, is not fond of Diana, even while she is married to her son, Prince Charles. Then-newly elected Prime Minister Tony Blair, played by Michael Sheen (Kingdom of Heaven), is suddenly obligated to act efficiently to mollify the resentment directed toward the monarch. The relentless bickering between the queen and Blair became slightly excessive toward the end, but nevertheless, the point the movie made clear was that Elizabeth has always been stringently ritualistic and would only break her inflexible views toward Diana at the expense of her crown.

The film was nominated for 10 Golden Globe awards, including best film and best director, and Peter Morgan received Best Screenplay for The Queen.

It's Mirren's strong résumé of playing royalty that won her the Golden Globe for best actress in a drama, but nonetheless, her portrayal of an unforgettably unsympathetic queen is impossible not to applaud for.

To top off Elizabeth's icy façade, her husband, Prince Philip, played by James Cromwell (Six Feet Under), is equally obdurate about Diana's death. His dimwitted comments are borderline inappropriate.

But don't think for a second that The Queen is an all out bashing fest on British royalty or a quiet rebellion against the concept monarchy itself. It seems that the point of the script is to humanize Elizabeth and strip away her frigid front. The British didn't exactly run flattering headlines with Elizabeth's dismissive attitude towards "the people's princess," and it's understandable that even her own people took a great disliking to her. But, Elizabeth manages to salvage her image, and by the end of the film, it's understood that because the Queen was forced to the throne at a young age, it's her nature to act decisively and with little to no emotion. If you don't mind that the film is nearly a third composed of archived news clips then you can appreciate The Queen. Grade: A-