George VI And His Therapist

Rating: 9/10 (15 March 2011)

With what I understand was the approval of the Royal Family, The King's Speech sets out to set the historical record straight about the father of the present Queen Elizabeth. George VI of the United Kingdom never thought he would be the ruling monarch, but when the challenge came, he rose to it. He was the second surviving son of George V and Queen Mary and like the present royal princes, Andrews and Edward, did the usual good will things on behalf of the Royal Family, substituting whenever the monarch or his brother the Crown Prince was not available.
For Colin Firth as George, life took an incredible bounce as his father Michael Gambon as George V said it would if the Prince of Wales later Edward VIII took the throne. Given his cavalier attitude and irresponsibility about assuming his duties George V knew something would happen.
The something was American divorcée Wallis Warfield Simpson played here by Eve Best ever so briefly, but deliciously. Her erotic technique could not be beat and that's what got Guy Peace as Edward VIII panting after her. Her friendship with Nazis and their collaborators worried quite a few in the British establishment. I'm glad that The King's Speech brought this one, I'm a firm believer that once all documents are released Stanley Baldwin and the rest of the cabinet who stood with him against this marriage will be heroes for posterity.
We in America have long been big believers in that myth perpetuated about the Windsors about the king who gave up his throne for the woman he loved. This film is the Royal Family's Way of setting the historical record straight.
But Colin Firth did have an incredible problem of stammering and could not cure it. George VI never really did, but after trying many people his wife Helena Bonham Carter in the film came upon Geoffrey Rush who was not a professional therapist. He was something better it turned out, an actor and an intuitive psychologist to boot. His scenes with Firth trying to limit the stammer are the best in the film.
Second best in the film are the scenes of Firth and Bonham-Carter with their two daughters, the older of whom became the present Queen. She's the only one left who was present at these events. After the playboy Edward VIII, the Royals became a beloved institution of family stability during George VI's reign. They stayed in London, in Buckingham Palce, during the Blitz and toured the city constantly keeping up the morale of the populace. No ruler with real political power did more for his people.
The King's Speech got four Oscars for Best Picture, Best Actor for Colin Firth, Best Director for Tom Hooper and for David Seaton's Original Screenplay. It had a flock more nominations including Best Supporting Actor and Actress for Geoffrey Rush and Helena Bonham-Carter. One role should not be overlooked either, that of Derek Jacobi as an obsequious Archbishop of Canterbury. I wasn't familiar with him, but was he really that much of toady?
And this review from this American viewer from a country that got rid of the British monarchy dedicates this review to George VI of the United Kingdom. Winston Churchill led the government, but George VI led his people in their darkest hour, never forget that.