Listen in, the King has something to say

Rating: 8/10 (28 April 2013)

This movie never loses its' voice. It's great. I love this movie, because I, too have a speech problem. I felt enriched by the character of King George VI (Colin Firth). Albert or Bertie as he is known by his friends and family suffered from a debilitating speech impediment all his life, is suddenly crowned King of England. Not only that, but his country is on the brink of World War II and in desperate need of a leader who can talk to the people. His wife, Elizabeth (Helena Bonham Carter) seeks out help from an eccentric speech therapist, Lionel Logue (Geoffrey Rush). First off, it's nice to see Helena Bonham Carter outside of the crazy evil woman roles, she been subjected to, the last few years. I found her role, very supporting. While, Colin Firth looks nothing like the real life King George VI, he was still able to portray the tragic inability to speak, both in public and to his own family. I like Gregory Rush's character who gives some greatly need humor to the story. I like the supporting cast such as Timothy Spall as Winston Churchill. He even portray him at the London 2012 Olympic opening. I also like Guy Pierce's supporter role as his brother David AKA King Edward VIII who ascends the throne, only to remove himself so that he can marry Mrs Wallis Simpson (Eve Best), an American socialite divorcée. The King's Speech does underplays Edward's flirtation with Nazism both before and after the outbreak of hostilities in September 1939 and neglects to mention George's support for the policy of appeasement pursued by Neville Chamberlain when he became prime minister after Stanley Baldwin resigned in May 1937. I know, Hollywood obviously took poetic license here, but I think it can be a little bit mention. Some of historical facts in this movie are just wrong. For example the Prime Minister Chamberlain did not resign when war broke out in 1939: he resigned after the defeat of Dunkirk. Still, I wouldn't hold the movie against itself. I don't care that it's historically accurate. Director Toby Hooper gives a fascinating insight into the king's troubled personal life and an inside look of what living up to royalty does on a person's mind. While, it can be a bit predictable. It's cleaver in a way that it gives us something new for a period piece. A great deal of humor. The best scene in the movie, had to be seeing King George VI giving out to a lot of curse words to learn to speak. It's so unlike the public image of royalty where they rarely swear. Due to this, f-bombing. Weinsteins were rob of their PG-13 rating. Due to its quest for more sells, some of the movie producers of this movie has eliminate the swearing scenes in DVDs. So there is some people that has the R-Rated version; while some people have a PG-13 version. It deserve the Academy Award best picture no matter what version, even if I thought Social Network would have taken that prize. I'm kinda glad this movie won it. The film deals with the gradual building of a close friendship between Bertie and Logue - or between royalty and commoner. The manner in which Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush create this memorable relationship represents some of the finest acting in cinema history. Overall, a great movie.