The kings speech

Directed by                 Tom Hooper

Produced by                Iain Canning

Emile Sherman

Gareth Unwin

Screenplay by              David Seidler

Starring                       Colin Firth

Geoffrey Rush

Helena Bonham Carter

Music by                     Alexandre Desplat

Cinematography          Danny Cohen, BSC

Ratings:                       8.2/ 10

The Synopsis

"The King's Speech" tells the story of the man who would become King George VI, the father of the current Queen, Elizabeth II. After his brother abdicates, George 'Bertie' VI (Firth) reluctantly assumes the throne. Plagued by a dreaded nervous stammer and considered unfit to be King, Bertie engages the help of an unorthodox speech therapist named Lionel Logue (Rush). Through a set of unexpected techniques, and as a result of an unlikely friendship, Bertie is able to find his voice and boldly lead the country into war.

Movie Review

“The King’s Speech” is a remarkable movie about a remarkable friendship. It honors the audience’s intelligence, which makes it a double rarity.

The friendship that painstakingly evolves is between Prince Albert, Duke of York (Colin Firth) and Lionel Logue (Geoffrey Rush), a frustrated Austalian actor turned highly unorthodox speech therapist. Albert, who has a dreadful stammer, has failed all previous medical interventions and vows never to try another.

Only the ministrations of his wife, Elizabeth, (a marvelous Helena Bonham Carter) bring him to Lionel, who, believing emotional intimacy is curative, insists on addressing the rankled Prince as “Bertie,” the family nickname. "My game, my turf, my rules,” he states flatly.

Albert, son of King George V (Michael Gambon), believed he was protected from the humiliations of public oration because his brother Edward (Guy Pearce) was in succession. But when Edward, as king, abdicates to marry American socialite Wallis Simpson (Eve Best), Albert is reluctantly enthroned.

Prior to this, Albert and Lionel had achieved an uneasy alliance which breaks apart after Lionel suggests “Bertie” is his brother’s better. What was intended as inspirational is received by Albert as the impertinence of a “nobody.” (It’s a heartbreaking scene.) Their ultimate reconciliation, which is as sensitively rendered as the fine-drawn gradations of friendship preceding it, is the heart of the movie.

It is Lionel’s belief that Albert, whom he regards as “the bravest man I know,” could be a wonderful king. On the evidence available to him, this might seem like a stretch – Albert’s bravery, after all, is essentially confined to eradicating his stammer, and we never hear him discuss statesmanship, about which he seems adamantly uninterested.

Shortly after the United Kingdom's declaration of war with Germany, George VI summons Logue to Buckingham Palace to prepare for his radio speech to the country. As the King and Logue move through the palace to a tiny studio, Winston Churchill (Timothy Spall) reveals to the King that he, too, had once had a speech impediment but had found a way to use it to his advantage. The King delivers his speech as if to Logue, who coaches him through every moment. Afterwards, the King steps onto the balcony of the palace with his family, where thousands of Londoners, gathered to hear the speech over loudspeakers, cheer and applaud him.

The King's Speech is simple yet inspiring and a heartrending tale of silencing that quiet voice within you which keeps saying you can't do it. It is definitely not just another feel-good British drama as quoted by many. A must watch.

By: Jennifer Jude Ann