by G E Barr

Created on: January 17, 2009

AN IRRESISTABLE COURSE OF EVENTS

Had I never seen Cate Blanchett in the Elizabethan films, as the quirky, transcendental Queen herself, my life would not have suffered and I'd lost nothing. But having seen Cate Blanchett in both Queen Elizabeth I and The Golden Age, has had the same affect on me as having seen Van Gogh's paintings, albeit in the form of prints.

The affect it has had on me defies words. Cate Blanchett's performance? Yes, most definitely. The history aspect also appeals to me. That is powerful. Movies are supposed to be for entertainment, not thought provoking awe. Maybe I'm too easily impressed in my simple state. The fact remains, I'm beyond impressed.

Destiny is itself a catalyst, which in the course of its burning bright light touches others through the entities it carries along.

Sometimes, the best roles for actors are incredibly, painfully small lives which, though they spoke beautifully, the whole world did not look upon it. Movies based on those lives allow a wider range of audience. To know that painfully small life existed and perhaps within that life, a greatness beyond comprehension existed and it is what spurns hope and a reminder that something much bigger is going on in this thing called life.

Could someone other than Cate Blanchett be Cate Blanchett? No. It was her destiny.

I look at her and there is an almost perfect symmetry to her overall body. She poses like a goddess. But she is as white as death and her immediate appearance is not beautiful. She is not beautiful. Catherine Deneuve is beautiful. Audrey Hepburn is beautiful. Cate Blanchett is terrifyingly exquisite.

Cate Blanchett's existance is a destiny and Cate Blanchett REALLY is an actor. She is practicing an art. She does not beg the camera, it begs for her. Theatre, that old tradition, seems to emenate from the woman. As though she was born to see it thrive and not be treaded down.

Cate Blanchett was not born royalty with a movie contract awaiting her. She had to pursue that place where destiny becomes. That place where even a basic goal meets coalescent conduit of destiny.

What am I saying? People who are born to meet destiny produce something before they are discovered. They work and they sweat and they have bouts of nagging doubt. They have problems to work through. They try on different things. They explore and research.

Then again, one's destiny might be to become a nun. Yes, how creamy beige boring. And yet, for the person so destined, it is rich and it will pump from their hearts like the sun rises each morning. That one will work, sweat, experience moments of doubt, cry and experience terrible frustrations.

Never think that destiny, or having the belief that you will find yours is paved with easy comforts and no doubts and remember what Shakespeare said, "It is not in the stars to hold our destiny, but in ourselves.".

Therefore, what people say of you during your journey, should you grow a tad ragged and weary, is really nothing at all and as irrelevant as the garbage you took out this morning.

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