If only all Oscar-bait was as good as this

Rating: 8/10 (31 January 2011)

Now this is a great film, combining narrative ambition with an urge to entertain the audience and a string of outstanding performances. A lot of Oscar-bait has only one or maybe two of those things. When all three of them come together, it's quite something to see.
This is the story of King George VI (Colin Firth), starting when he was only the Duke of York and 2nd in line for the British throne behind his brother David (Guy Pierce). Most non-Brits are familiar with the older brother as Edward VIII, the man who gave up the throne for the love of a divorced American named Wallis Simpson (Eve Best). That famed tale has made it to the screen before, but this movie adds more evidence to the claim that behind every great story is an even greater story waiting to be told.
For the Duke of York was a lifelong and quite severe stammerer and The King's Speech is about how he overcame it with the love of his wife Elizabeth (Helena Bonham Carter) and a speech therapist named Lionel Logue (Geoffrey Rush) to help lead Britain through the darkest days of World War II. That's a little more interesting than star-crossed lovers, isn't it?
The superb work of the cast is first thing to praise here. Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush are tremendous, Firth as a man trapped by both his impairment and his place in society and Rush as a man split between his thoroughly ordinary life and his unorthodox profession. Those two are then backed up by virtually flawless turns from actor after actor, with Helena Bonham Carter as the resolute Elizabeth and Guy Pierce as the non-malicious but terribly flawed David leading the way.
Secondly, there are an amazing number of ideas woven together in this script. It's not just about a man overcoming a personal defect and the emotional scars it causes and was caused by. It also deals with the revolutionary effect 20th century communication technology would have on the role of constitutional monarch, the last time in modern history when a monarch would be called upon to be more than a tourist attraction, the terrible burden of responsibility without authority and the isolation of being seen as a king first by even your own daughters, the gathering storm of World War II, the epic scope of the British Empire and what it really meant, and how love and friendship are often the only things that get us through life.
Thirdly, The King's Speech is a damn enjoyable film. It laces humor, both high and low, through the drama and neither dwells obsessively on any of its themes nor desperately reaches for profundity at any moment. I can imagine someone writing a play about George VI and Lionel Logue that's nothing but the two men talking in a room for two hours, focusing only on the stammer and the childhood trauma that possibly caused it. I can also imagine such a play being extremely well written. What I can't imagine is such a play being fun for most folks to sit through. The most impressive thing about this movie is that it never tries to impress you. These filmmaker understand the first job is to hold the audience's attention, not take them for granted as though the audience should feel privileged for being told a story.
This is a splendid film on just about every level. If you haven't seen it, go out of your way to do so.