The King's Speech (2010) Leaves Me Speechless

Rating: Null/10 (15 January 2011)

The King's Speech (2010) starring Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush, and Helena Bonham Carter, directed by Tom Hooper is not just another Hollywood movie about the British monarchy.
In a way, the new King's (King George VI) trouble with giving a speech is reflective of the public's inability to hear. The King's hesitancy in his speech could be seen as an artistic metaphor for the country of England to not see the need to "speak up" or join the fight against the German Nazis. It's the old idea that the people get the leadership they deserve.
The audience winces as the King's makes a few bad attempts at a public speech.
It's more than a look at history. It's an inside look at a world family-and the bravery of one man appointed King who desperately rises to the occasion, after conquering not an army attacking his country, but after conquering his own internal and external enemies- his upbringing, his seemingly volatile, but repressed nature, and a resulting serious speech impediment.
The movie presents us viewers with an "against the odds" story of the father of the popular Queen Elizabeth now residing on the British throne. We know, again from the movies, (The Queen, 2008) of the current Queen's dignity in the face of outside circumstances of fate and choosing. With the impending marriage of Prince William, there is an anticipation of a transition in the British monarchy, a monarchy riddled with past achievements and disasters both.
The King's Speech movie lets us experience the individual strength of a King whose suffering is almost too painfully portrayed on his face until the end of the movie. Colin Firth is convincing as a man tortured by his childhood,and yet, with the help of his speech therapist, played by Geoffrey Rush, becomes his own person, finds his own voice.
It's a great escape to watch this beautifully filmed movie- an enjoyable and enticing way to look inside the royal palaces and imagine what really happened. The portrayals are fictional from a screenwriter's pen. But, the result is a movie worth seeing and hearing.
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Written by Mary Ellen Graybill,BS- a Pennsylvania-based freelance writer who has produced over 200 published articles for magazines and newspapers including the Baltimore SUN (Maryland). She goes to a lot of movies.