Movie Review

Diana, the movie

Shrouded in the residence of Kensington Palace with rare monthly visits with her sons, Diana was a separated and somewhat free woman who held her composure with quiet revelations to inside staff, piano playing and lifelong compassion of others.  Played by Naomi Watts, the British-Australian sensation, Diana’s sense of purpose portrayed in Oliver Hirschbiegel’s film was to find true love yet not forget her indebtedness to charity, the commoners and her source of caring to overrule pomposity with earthy love to all suffering people.  Love was a gift to be given away with a sense of impulse beyond rigidity.

The thrust of the movie was not to expose the chain of events that led to her death, discontent with Prince Charles or overcompensation of love to her sons, but her ability to cope in isolation, reveal her true self to the British and take chances where she traditionally could not.  Led by her desire to connect to everyday people, Princess Diana accepted an invitation to tour a hospital by Hasnat Khan, a Pakistani heart surgeon she met In the Royal Brompton Hospital, while visiting other patients.  An instant attraction led to a merged world view of saving lives and bettering medical practices and techniques, which increased Khan’s fondness toward Diana.

Played by Naveen Andrews, who appeared in Lost, the TV hit, the connection between Diana and him transcended different upbringings, bi polar religious views, and aimed to close cleavages of faith and paparazzi which plagued their desire to be together.  This is a true story of love, in which convenience and reward were low-level probabilities.  Hasnat, who possessed integrity and perfection as a heart surgeon admired his love, Diana, but did not want to compromise his privacy for happiness.  Diana, who was willing to risk almost anything, including hiding him in the backseat under burlap while passing the Kensington Palace gates, enjoyed the risk and taboo of loving a Muslim man from LaHore, Pakistan.  

She was only conflicted about his smoking and penchant for greasy food, not his traditional religion or nominal fears.  She won him over even as difficulty ensued by media scoundrels.  The highlights of the film shows Diana giving a speech to raise money for heart research on behalf of Hasnat Khan’s favorite mentor doctor, their drive to the “edge of the kingdom” in which she borrowed a commoner’s beater car and her trip to Lahore, Pakistan to meet his family.  She said “This is how life is supposed to be, with children, grandparents and parents all living together.”  

Diana strove to break tradition through expanding her love for Khan and those in the world different from England.  Although Khan’s reserve of falling in love “with the most famous woman of the world” was often charged with deep arguments of possibility, their secret love over-ruled long held beliefs that she could or would never be happy.  

Dodi Fayed, played by Cas Anvar, was the rebound relationship after Khan decided it was too much to make himself a public risk.  Her hope to make Khan jealous was achieved by telling the media where Dodi and her were yachting.  The hidden love of Diana was primarily concealed to most of the public until the release of this movie.  Doomed to fate one way or the other, she found true love in spite of the press, the stuffy royal family and her husband who even tried to keep her children at a distance during their rocky separation and divorce.  She told her butler, Paul Burrell, “Now that I have found true love, I am not afraid anymore.”