The King's Speech

Just went and saw this movie over the weekend, and man was it interesting. Since this post will most likely just be a series of ravings for the movie, let me begin by saying something clearly: this movie is really good, relevant to the world today, and very well acted.

First, I like that the characters are cast pretty true to their backgrounds. All the main characters are English (minus the speech therapist played by Geoffrey Rush), so these accents aren't forced at all, allowing the movie to be taken seriously. As for Rush, he's actually - wait for it - Australian! So even his accent, which idiots like me (read that "Americans") would take for a superb English, can be written off as part of the character he plays.

Secondly, I loved the back-and-forth style that Colin Firth and Rush displayed during their sessions. It was quick-witted and playful at times, and then slow and heart-warming at others. One scene which pretty accurately synopsizes the movie: when King George VI is walking through his speech which he is scheduled to give in mere minutes, his speech doctor and friend Lionel Logue sits and walks him through the ins and outs of his message. As the stammering George VI continues getting tripped up on words (such as words starting with "P"), Logue persists through the snags and pauses by giving the king helpful hints (like singing the words, cursing during pauses, or dancing to distract himself). This leads to a hilarious, ground-breaking scene where the King of the British Empire is waltzing around the room, cussing out an unseen audience and belting out the melody to "Camptown Races" to an elated Logue who shouts encouragement.

Another thing I noticed is how timeless the symbol of Nazi Germany is, and how it can still affect us today, especially British audiences. Its effect on the Jewish people remains well-documented and represented in the media, but I didn't really realize the effect felt on the British people. Granted, World War II for the UK was a bitter one, with bomb shelters and air raids being common during the blitzkrieg days of the Luftwaffe. I understand the importance of history, and how a symbol can flood back those memories found in my textbooks during school. As an American, an image of a redcoat or the Declaration of Independence bring me back to good ol' George Washington crossing the Delaware or the pride of the Boston Tea Party. Since The King's Speech is set in the times leading up to World War II, the historical images of bomb shelters and families crouching around their radio sets serve as good memory-impetuses (impeti? whatever.).

It was also really funny seeing some actors used in very different roles from how I'm used to seeing them. I kept waiting for Helena Bonham Carter, who plays the new Queen, to have a Bellatrix Lestrangian hiss whenever something went slightly wrong. And when Lionel Logue was acting out a Shakespearean character for his two young boys, I just wanted Geoffrey Rush to revert back to his Captain Barbossa character and say "we call the monkey Jack". Does that make me hard to please?!

Finally, Colin Firth really just acted well. It's very hard to stammer if you don't (believe me, I tried for the few hours after getting out of the movie), and he showed all of the inner conflict of a stammerer's fear of failure/inadequacy without conveying anything comedic about a serious difficulty. Whether or not you have a speech defect, the main conflict of the movie can be understood by most, if not all: public speaking is scary.