King's Speech Sweeps Best Picture and Lead Actor Academy Wins

Rating: Null/10 (6 November 2011)

The well-chosen words used by reigning Queen Elizabeth (daughter of King George VI) to describe the film that won the Best Picture Oscar as "touching" and "entertaining," echo the critical praise it received.
In addition, the authentic big screen re-creation based on factual incidents in the life of the future King—is insightful, humorous and inspiring. Colin Firth, the Academy Award winner for Best Actor, portrays the King with earnest sensitivity; and the filmmakers masterfully succeed at extracting a succinct chunk of history that could be perceived as inconsequential and making it commercially viable.
Although it covers an inclusive timeline of publicly recorded events, which occurred within the five-year period prior to America's entry from 1934 - 1939; the back-story doesn't bog down the principle tale centered on the King's severe stammer with historic setup. It begins with the current queen's late mother's quest to seek professional help for her husband's speech impediment.
Best Supporting Actress winner Helena Bonham Carter, lovingly portrays the much beloved 'Queen Mum,' as a devoted and supportive wife to King George V, who finds unorthodox and uncredentialed speech therapist Lionel Logue (Geoffrey Rush).
The candid depiction of George's personal struggle to overcome his self-consciously crippling stutter with the aid of Logue before and after he becomes King, is a profoundly empowering account of courage and self-determination that bears telling—with meticulous direction—which-bares viewing.
Much of its mass appeal is due to the sympathetic, humanizing representation of the King as a traditional monarch ultimately extricating himself from the segregative barriers of royal protocol, and revealing how the common vocal disorder immensely impacts his life. Shedding light on the debilitating disorder may, hopefully alter the perception of the dysfunction, frequently a source of ridicule aimed at those who suffer with the verbal handicap.
Prior to his first national radio address broadcast live at the onset of World War II, guided by Logue, he had been literally thrust into the position of 'accidental' king. The death of his father King George V, was followed closely by the abdication of the throne by the next son in succession to become king in order to marry the soon-to-be twice divorced Wallis Simpson. Through Logue'unconventional methods, he eventually relinquishes his initial resistance and skepticism—to find his voice. As the King eloquently remarks, when he speaks, the nation believes he speaks for them.
It was no surprise that the two men forged a working relationship and lifelong bond.