By Kazuki Nakata

I stayed in Britain for one month last summer for the English Study Tour class. I had a chance to visit many places of interest. One of those places was the Lake District where you can see beautiful scenery interwoven by hills and lakes, which is rare in England.

The Lake District is famous for scenes from the pictures in Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter. The movie "Miss Potter," staring Renee Zellweger as Beatrix Potter, is based on her life story.

This story starts from her childhood. She was born in the upper class. However, she had little opportunity to mix with other children because her parents were very strict and they did not allow Beatrix and her younger brother Bertram to play with other children their age. So, she had few playmates other than Bertram and animals.

She began to sketch animals and gradually the sketches became better and better and her talents improved. She visited the Lake District with her family every year and grew to love nature. Her dream was to be a picture book author. It was hard for women to venture out into the world on their own during the Victorian Era when women were supposed to stay in the home. Despite this, she visited Frederick Warne & Co. and she got a chance to publish a picture book.

The man in charge of her picture book was Norman Warne (Ewan McGregor). He was the youngest of the three Warne brothers. His parents didn't want him to work. They wanted him to take care of them instead, just like Potter's. While working together, Potter and Warne found their situation was similar and they became attracted to each other and aspired to marry. But Potter's strict parents objected strongly to the marriage because merchants were a very low class in those days. As a result, they didn't get married. So, this movie is not just about her life story, it is also a pure love story.

One of the highlights of this movie is the love story itself. Let me show some other highlights. First, the characters in the illustrations of Potter's books move around comically in the film. And the conversations between those characters and Potter makes the audience laugh. Another is that Potter's mother appears as an unpleasant person. You can see how women got a raw deal in those days through her existence.

When talking about Beatrix Potter, one shouldn't forget the National Trust. This volunteer organization works to preserve and protect the beautiful countryside, valuable buildings and the natural landscapes to pass down from generation to generation.

Potter was a great supporter of the National Trust and often made anonymous contributions. And after she died, she left almost all of her property interests to the National Trust ― 4,000 acres (16 km) of land, Hill Top where she lived late in life, and so on. Thanks to Potter, we can now see landscapes which haven't changed a bit since she was alive.

People can enjoy the nature she left, which stretches as far as one can see, as well as the characters in her picture books. I think that her wish was for people to think about the importance of preserving nature and its necessity for the world's future. This movie includes many elements; life in Victorian England, fantasy, love and nature protection. I am now enjoying the impact of the movie and am quietly remembering the Lake District and my travels in England.