Speaking with a voice

Rating: 8/10 (23 February 2014)

Prince Albert, the Duke of York (Colin Firth) was tasked to represent his father King George V (Michael Gambon) to give a speech closing the 1925 British Empire Exhibition at the Wembley Stadium. He stammered throughout, and that was being broadcast by radio worldwide and those present at the stadium. Even if the Duke had given up finding a cure to his stammer, his wife Elizabeth (Helena Bonham Carter) has not and sought help with Lionel Logue (Geoffrey Rush), an Australian speech therapist living in London.
The Duke of York would be persuaded by his wife to see Logue and during the first session, he calls him 'Dr. Logue' while Logue calls the Duke 'Bertie'. The Duke of York was surprised, given that is the name only his family uses to call him. Even if he felt that Logue's methods and his manners are unsuitable, Logue would wager a schilling with him that he would be able to recite Hamlet's 'To be not to be' soliloquy while listening to 'The Marriage of Figaro' on headphones at the same time without trouble. Logue would put the Duke's performance on record, and the Duke was convinced he had stammered throughout after the end and out of frustration, declared how he did as 'hopeless'. Logue would give the Duke the record as a keepsake.
It would be after King George V had delivered his 1934 Christmas radio address, he explained to his younger son Prince Albert of the importance of broadcasting. The King was worried of how Albert's older brother David (Guy Pearce) would bring ruin to the family and country when he ascends to the throne, an indirect reference to David seeing the soon- to-be twice-divorcée in the American socialite Wallis Simpson (Eve Best). The King would let Albert recite the radio address he gave earlier as a form of practice, but to no avail.
The Duke of York would later listen to the record of him reciting Hamlet, and he realised he had actually did it unhesitatingly. He and his wife would return to seeing Logue again, where the Duke would do physical exercises, even if Logue would gently probe along the way on the root causes of the Duke's stammer. That was when the Duke began to open up, and the two men became friends.
King George V would pass away on January 1936, meaning that David would succeed his father on the throne and becoming Edward VIII. But it further complicated matters when the new king insisted on wanting marry Wallis Simpson even with his position as the head of the Church of England when the two brothers was at Balmoral Castle where the Duke of York and his wife were invited to a party hosted by Edward VIII. Edward VIII's insistence sparked a constitutional crisis, and he would return to his younger brother's stammer and accusing him of wanting his place.
But before Edward VIII would eventually abdicate and thus thrusting his younger brother into the spotlight, the Duke of York would meet Logue again and spoke of the progress he has make. But the condition never improved whenever he is speaking to his older brother. Logue's suggestion that the Duke would make a better king than his older brother got the Duke accusing his speech therapist of treason and dismissed him on the spot.
There were times watching Colin Firth first as the Duke of York before becoming King George VI, it was painful trying to imagine how it was like for the real Bertie trying to speak in public with his stammer. But it is only after the belief of Elizabeth and Lionel Logue, the future King George VI was able to believe in himself where all that training would prepare for his biggest challenge yet as a monarch. It is the story of a future king who had never believed in himself when speaking in public, and the wife and speech therapist who do.
It is a film which gives hope to anyone, anywhere that if a king is able to overcome his stammer, they are able to do it as well. It became poignant when Firth as King George VI would say 'Because I have a voice!'. It does make one want to root for the king in the film, as what makes it compelling that it is actually based on real events and the personal notebooks of the real Lionel Logue. It even has the royal seal of approval from the reigning Queen Elizabeth II, the daughter of the king depicted in the film.