The King's Speech

Stuttering can be one of the most crippling ailments a man can have. Without an effective way to communicate and presenting such a large fragility, stuttering can create a hermit of a man instead of the powerful leader that King George VI needed to be. Colin Firth plays the stuttering mess of a man who is trying desperately to find his place in the world. So much is demanded of him and he has felt nothing but inadequacy in almost every circumstance he has known his entire life. As we follow his inner-battle with stuttering we get a glimpse of how the eyes of his wife, his father, his brother, his therapist, his kids, and his country are all watching, waiting for him to be the king, father and friend they all know he can be. With the help of his friend and therapist Lionel Logue (Geoffrey Rush), he faces his stuttering struggles face on and in the process become a man worthy of the throne.

One part of this movie I did not expect was the cinematography. Danny Cohen was the Director of Photography for this and has in the past mostly been the cinematographer for TV shows, TV movies and shorts. Not exactly the list I was predicting for the cinematographer of this beautiful movie. There were so many times I was astonished by the decisions this man made. The normal cinematographer would shoot dialogues from over the shoulder of the subjects, but in this movie that doesn’t happen that often. There are so many rules that they seem to brake but it works somehow. Cohen was able to create a unique view of a story that could very well be considered boring. I would argue that if it was filmed in a “normal” way it would have been significantly less captivating and less successful.

As the wife of a world leader, one has to be used to being ignored and pushed back. They would have to get used to being pampered and never doing anything for themselves. Queen Elizabeth on the other hand looked as though she had always had that option, but never gave into that lifestyle. Helena Bonham Carter played the strong, caring wife to King George VI. She was in some ways stronger than he was. She was more of the leader in their relationship. He was always in the public eye, but she was always at his side holding onto his elbow slipping him encouraging words. She was his constant motivator and guardian angel. I have never seen Carter play this kind of character before. She always reminds me of Tim Burton and his style of storytelling, but in this movie she wasn’t anything of the sort. Her hair wasn’t up in her usual demented style, but soft and subdued. Her speech was supple and quiet. The air about her gave breath and life. I was amazed at how versatile Carter really can be. Watching her play the soft, and loving character instead of the aggressor only drew me in closer into the story.

The King’s Speech was nominated for twelve Oscars and won four. Every single one of them one well deserved. It won for Best Director (Tom Hooper), Best Motion Picture of the Year (Iain Canning, Emile Sherman, Gareth Unwin), Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role (Colin Firth) and Best Writing, Original Screenplay (David Seidler). This film took an unconventional approach to telling this story and it definitely paid off for them in the end. They took a potentially boring story and kept the world captivated by forcing us to step into the stutterer’s shoes and live a life with King George VI.

Final Grade: A+