'Elizabeth' - High-Def Digest review

[jed]

Kenneth's review of 'Elizabeth' is up. He's a big fan of film and says this HD DVD is a nice match, featuring an above-average video transfer and a solid TrueHD audio mix that does a great job of recreating the theatrical experience.
A slim set of supplements drags down the overall grade, but never mind that -- there's more than enough good here to compensate.

Full review here:
http://hddvd.highdefdigest.com/912/elizabeth.html

[Blurry]

I just finished watching this tonight. This is really a fantastic movie and it was great checking it out in HD.

[sachinwalia]

Just to mention that Shekhar Kapur is actually an indian director not pakistani. However now it doesn't matter as he lives in england.

[zaphod]

One of my favourite movies of all time and a prime candidate for an exception to my 'will-not-rebuy-my-sd-dvds'-rule. Geoffrey Rush's performance as a Macchiavellian counsellor to the queen alone is worth the price of the disc.

[Ken Brown]

Originally Posted by sachinwalia

Just to mention that Shekhar Kapur is actually an indian director not pakistani. However now it doesn't matter as he lives in england.

Actually, he was born in the city of Lahore in "British India," which is currently within the borders of Pakistan. He attended school in New Dehli and his family is geographically Indian, but his nationality was originally Pakistani.

I've read several variations -- I had to make a choice and decided on "Pakistani" in reference to his birthplace. If anyone knows of an interview where Kapur emphatically states whether he considers himself Indian or Pakistani, please provide a link to the information so I can make sure the review is completely accurate.

Thanks as always for posting!

[posters5]

Ken,

While Kapur was born in a city that is now located in Pakistan, historically, there was no such thing as Pakistan (or Bangladesh for that matter). That area was ALL India, and the people there are basically from the same general ethnic group (despite differences in religion--Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, etc.). After Britain relinquished colonial control over India, Kapur's family obviously moved to the Indian side of the border to remain "Indian" rather than become "Pakistani", so it's quite clear that Kapur is indeed Indian.

Eddie

[zaphod]

There seems to be some confusion as to Shekhar Kapur's date of birth. According to some sources, he was born in 1951, whereas others cite the year 1945. f.e.:

http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/contri...1800018922/bio

http://www.fandango.com/shekharkapur...aphies/p191017

The partition of British India took place in August 1947, creating the two independent states India and Pakistan (Bangladesh was founded later, it was originally East Pakistan). Therefore, if Kapur was born in 1945, he was born in British India; if he was born in 1951, he was indeed (probably) born a Pakistani. The fact that he returned to India proper after his years in the UK seems to indicate that he thought (and still thinks) of himself as being Indian.

(Sorry to nitpick, but as I was born in Pakistan, this is of some interest to me.)

[posters5]

well, a person's place of birth or race isn't the one defining characteristic of nationality. a japanese may've been born in canada, and there are plenty of white africans (not just in south africa). a great deal of nationality depends on self-identification, and kapur's family clearly sided with india (i.e. went to the indian side of the border during a time when people could choose) following the partition.

[Ken Brown]

Originally Posted by zaphod

There seems to be some confusion as to Shekhar Kapur's date of birth. According to some sources, he was born in 1951, whereas others cite the year 1945. f.e.:

http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/contri...1800018922/bio

http://www.fandango.com/shekharkapur...aphies/p191017

The partition of British India took place in August 1947, creating the two independent states India and Pakistan (Bangladesh was founded later, it was originally East Pakistan). Therefore, if Kapur was born in 1945, he was born in British India; if he was born in 1951, he was indeed (probably) born a Pakistani. The fact that he returned to India proper after his years in the UK seems to indicate that he thought (and still thinks) of himself as being Indian.

(Sorry to nitpick, but as I was born in Pakistan, this is of some interest to me.)

Both of you are stumbling onto the same problem I encountered (I also ran headlong into the birthdate discrepancy) -- I haven't been able to find any definitive information and most of the sites have conflicting facts and dates.

I appreciate your investigations. I'll keep checking in to see if anyone finds a clear-cut answer.

Just to clarify, my use of the term "Pakistani" refers to his birth country -- we can debate his current nationality or "how he sees himself" forever. I would like to refer to his country of origin in the review's sentence (as that is more factual that an assumption of his beliefs or loyalties).

Thanks again!

[CaptainCanuck]

I spent 15 minutes googling him to find his birthdate and most say 1945,a few say '51 and 1 said 55.
He doesn't say what it is on his own website.
He's an interesting guy,too interesting to work in Hollywood i think.;-)

[zaphod]

Originally Posted by posters5

well, a person's place of birth or race isn't the one defining characteristic of nationality.

Of course, that's why I wrote 'probably'. I was going to write '... unless of course he was born of Indian parents' etc. etc., but I didn't want to make it even more convoluted than it already was..

[zaphod]

Originally Posted by Ken Brown

Just to clarify, my use of the term "Pakistani" refers to his birth country -- we can debate his current nationality or "how he sees himself" forever. I would like to refer to his country of origin in the review's sentence (as that is more factual that an assumption of his beliefs or loyalties).

Thanks again!

I'm sorry if my remark came across as criticism, it was certainly not meant that way; I was just speculating.

It would be interesting to research whether Kapur - if he was Pakistani by nationality - would have been permitted to work in the Indian movie industry, given the tensions between the two nations. The guy sure is interesting; I'm tempted to dig deeper into this...

[posters5]

ken,

if you want to focus on kapur's country of birth, then the answer is "british INDIA". he was born before pakistan even existed.

at any rate, you're using a very problematic categorization rubric. say two caucasian, teutonic germans are on vacation in hong kong and give birth to a boy. after two weeks, the family of three returns to hamburg. the son never sets foot back in hong kong ever again. are you going to call him chinese?

eddie

[casper77]

Can someone confirm or double check the TrueHD specs. The review states 18Mbs!!! Was that a typo or actually true?

[Ken Brown]

Originally Posted by zaphod

I'm sorry if my remark came across as criticism, it was certainly not meant that way; I was just speculating.

It would be interesting to research whether Kapur - if he was Pakistani by nationality - would have been permitted to work in the Indian movie industry, given the tensions between the two nations. The guy sure is interesting; I'm tempted to dig deeper into this...

It didn't come across that way at all! I was just clarifying for anyone else out there reading our conversation.