Solid historical drama

Rating: 8/10 (6 March 2011)

The King's Speech (2010) directed by Tom Hooper, has won acclaim as one of the best films of the year. As everyone knows by now, it's the story of a speech pathologist who helps King George VI become the wartime orator that England needed.
Colin Firth is outstanding as King George VI, Helena Bonham Carter is wonderful as Queen Elizabeth, and Geoffrey Rush is equally good as Lionel Logue, the speech teacher.
You can't help but enjoy this film, because it's about decent people trying to cope with a truly serious problem. (No one who stutters is happy to have this affliction, but a king who can't make a speech as his country is preparing for war is in serious trouble.)
As with all historical dramas, we know the end of this one as soon as the movie begins. Still, the director works with his fine actors to make us care about the process of getting to where we know we will be as the credits start to roll. Definitely a film worth seeing. We saw it on the large screen, but it should work equally well on DVD.