Splendid, just splendid

Rating: 10/10 (25 December 2010)

The best film since "The Queen"...in fact, I hope QEII sees this touching drama about her father! I would love to know how accurate a portrayal it is of her childhood with a father who appears to be warm and loving, the total opposite of his own father, King George V. An overwhelmingly great drama with a terrific cast of well known Brits. Colin Firth gives an Oscar-worthy performance of King George VI struggling to overcome his tormenting stammer. With the help of Geoffrey Rush as the speech therapist Lionel Logue there is a battle royal between the self-conscious, self-doubting man who "would not be King" and the speech therapist who helps him overcome psychological and abusive childhood traumas which impact his adult life. In addition, Helena Bonham Carter as his loving, kind, patient and understanding wife believes he can overcome his terrifying fear of public speaking to become a very public King (and Queen)who bravely stay in London during WWII when they could easily have escaped to the safer countryside. An amazing, superbly moving and intimate character study that moves along briskly, this film deserves top awards for the performances of Firth, Rush and Carter, director Tom Hooper and a well crafted script. The film puts a very human face on the British monarchy, a portrait of a warm and close family. I hope it wins "Best Film of 2010" in the major awards coming up - certainly deserves it. I want to see it again, it's that well done!