The King CAN speak

Rating: 9/10 (30 January 2011)

When my 5 year old son asked me what the film I was about to see was about I told him there was a King who needed help to speak and that a man, who would become his special friend, would help to teach him. When I returned home - blown away from what I had seen - my son asked me, "did the man help the King to speak Mummy?" Still sniffing from the resonating emotion of watching a powerful account of an unusual friendship I nodded and told my son that the King could now speak.
I first recall seeing Colin Firth in Tumbledown (1988), a British drama about the Falklands war. As a teenager, I was fascinated by wartime movies and a film about the relatively recent (1982) Falklands conflict completely captivated me, as did Firth's performance.
Twenty one years later, he commanded my attention again with his performance in A Single Man (2009) and now, 2 years on, I found his role as King George VI outstanding.
An actor who has become synonymous with Jane Austin sagas, and who I am sure is widely regarded as an archetypal Gentleman - an example of middle-class Britishness - fits effortlessly into this role as a British Monarch.
What is truly magical about this performance is his abandonment of the Standard English we all associate him with as he acts against his inclination to talk 'well-to-do'. And the gusto with which he attempts this deserves an Oscar in itself.
Of course, his stammer still leaves the residue of an accent we would expect of a Royal but his feigned mispronunciation of words highlights the inherent talent of a captivating performer.
Within 10 minutes of it starting, the film's mise-en-scene, cinematography and plot tension gave me goose bumps. It was heart-wrenching to realise at the film's end that I was sharing the cinema with a predominantly elderly audience, who would have been the most moved by the final reel of images.
British-born Director, Tom Hooper, captured the essence of Post-Victorian England with finesse, and offered a nostalgic and insightful perspective on the renegade, Mrs Simpson; conjuring up memories of history classes I had had as a child growing up in England.
The King's Speech is about the power of faith, in oneself and others, juxtaposed against civic duty.