The King Speaks Loud and Clear

Rating: 9/10 (11 February 2011)

At last! - a movie that one can unashamedly applaud. Superficially, this is a historical drama about the Abdication Crisis and its effects on the Royal Family of the day. What it is really about,or, if you prefer, at a deeper level, it is the story of one person's struggle to conquer the inadequacies of their upbringing and confront their deepest fears. It is also a film about commitment, loyalty and friendship - and their opposites.
The acting is high quality throughout, though Timothy Spall as Churchill is stretching the casting somewhat. But he and Elizabeth Bonham Carter, Derek Jacobi and Guy Pearce are very much in supporting roles. It is Colin Firth, as George VI, and Geoffrey Rush, as Lionel Logue, the speech therapist, who carry the film. The acting is superb from both, but it is Rush who is utterly outstanding.
You may need to be English to fully appreciate the nuances of this movie (e.g. the manner of the Queen's deft side-stepping of Logue's wife's invitation to stay for dinner). But anyone with a little life experience can identify with the predicament of being in a demanding situation not of one's choosing and through no fault of one's own - except that in the King's case, there was nowhere to run and nowhere to hide. A great and moving example of 'grace under pressure'.