Okay ... my eyes teared at the slaughter of the 14-point stag in The Queen

Although the movie itself was a combination of human-level high political drama and subtle (and not-so-subtle) high political comedy, the most powerful scenes in the just now Oscar-nominated film, The Queen, dealt with Queen Elizabeth's inadvertent run-in with a 14-point stag deer that her husband and two grandsons were stalking so as to take the boys' minds off of the loss of their mother (Princess Di) in the days following her tragic death.

As those of you who know me know full well, I'm an animal lover through and through. The scenes of the beautiful 14-point stag in its majestic splendor stirred my soul as nothing I've seen recently in a movie has. And the scenes in the slaughterhouse of the headless corpse of the once splendid animal brought tears to my eyes as no recent movie has. How and why, for the love of God, do "sportsmen" find pleasure in stalking and murdering such beautiful and intelligent of their fellow travelers on this, God's green earth?

As for the movie, it was surely one of the best I've seen in my lifetime and showed the British Royal Family in all its ugly splendor ... certainly in comparison with the stag deer who was a great counterpoint to the petty concerns of Queen Elizabeth, the "Queen Mum" and the rest of the "royal" family.

Dame Helen Mirren was terrific in her portrayal of QE II ... probably this year's Oscar winner for Best Actress. QE II's husband, Prince Phillip and Princess Dianna's ex, Prince Charles (played by James Cromwell and Alex Jennings, resp.) could probably sue the film's producers for the unflattering portraits we got of them and Tony Blair (played by Michael Sheen) never looked so good as a politician and as a person ... certainly not like the current groveling image we have of him as one of President Bush's lap-dogs vis-a-vis his continuing support of ours and Britain's involvement in the Iraq Civil War.

Anyway, the film is a must see, IMHO, and was certainly a wonderful diversion from my teaching up "on the hill."