The King's Speech

Rating: 10/10 (14 February 2011)

The King's Speech takes place in late 1930's Britain and focuses on the monarchy of the royal family at the time. The current king is King George the 5th and when he passes on, the role of the king will go to one of his sons, either George, or his brother Edward. The film focuses on George though as he is married and has two daughters and in a lot of ways would like to become the next king of England, except his one struggle is the way he speaks. Since he was a young boy he developed a stammer and can not pronounce or talk at the same speed, or pronounce it the same as everybody else. With the current invention of radio becoming a big hit, George knows that he must learn to lose his stammer and so he is introduced to a speech therapist named Lionel Logue. George has seen different speech therapists before, so is very sceptical and unoptimistic that anything will be different with Lionel, but to his surprise, under Lionel's direction, he is getting better. Lionel who has a very unorthodox and unusual ways of doing things, connects with George, not only as his speech therapist, but as a good friend as well. This tale based on a true story is about their friendship and how in more ways than one, they are able to help each other out in life and as friends. Next to Mao's Last Dancer, I found The King's Speech to be the most uplifting and inspiring film of 2010. I think what makes it that way to me, is the fact that these two men, who in many ways are total opposites and how they are able to both reach each other and help each other out in life and how lasting and important their friendship is to each other and the beautiful and helpful times they will have together. The other inspirational part is about George and his stammer and how he is continually helped by Lionel to overcome it. We also see Lionel, working also as a friend to coach George, on the pressures of being in the limelight and in the royal monarchy and basically life itself. Along with Mao's Last Dancer, this is the type of film that warms your heart and makes you want to stand up and cheer after you have seen it. My favourite parts of the film were George and Lionel interacting with one another because in those scenes there is so much heart, human emotion and at times some very funny moments as well. The film's screenplay draws us back to the 1930's and instead of being a stuffy, or boring film, I instead found it to be so full of life and humour and so inspirational about who we can become as people and how the ones who are dear to us, can really help us out in the end and that friendships are a wonderful thing. The history aspects of this film were fascinating to me as well and of course the main point of George getting, or trying to lose his stammer was fascinating to watch because of the great character build ups and the way these characters interact with one another. It is a fantastically written film and the writing comes through with very good direction and of course excellent acting. Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush are terrific here as George and Lionel and they give so much human qualities to these characters that in any well done film such as this, you get to care for them and have your own sense of respect for them and just watching them is a complete and total joy. Colin Firth will win the Oscar for his portrayal of George at the Oscars in a few weeks and it is a well deserved win. The film with it's period piece settings are very suitable and enhance the historical aspects of the film and all the supporting actors do a great job here as well. To me though the thing that stayed with me and touched my heart was the message that with help from others be it friends, spirituality, or the ones closest to us, we can get help with the burdens, or things we have been struggling with and that every one of us does have one true great friend who can inspire us to go on and do great things and we can be at the side of that friend and go on to inspire them to greatness as well, no matter what field, age or any situation you are in. The King's Speech is a very entertaining film and works because of it's great direction, script and acting as well as the core messages of the film that will inspire us and warm our hearts. This is one of the best films of 2010.