Simply The Best Film Of The Year!

Rating: 10/10 (6 January 2012)

I admit to have been slightly disappointed when I found out that this modest and low-key film won the top honors beating the much loved films like 'The Social Network', 'True Grit', 'Inception' and 'Black Swan'. But I remembered what James Cameron said about the Oscars. They are meant to celebrate films, which the world would not see, but must see.
It took me some time to get the film on my pen-drives, but like the eponymous King himself and his devoted wife the Queen Elizabeth, it always takes to close shut another door of the elevator to reach the destination. And the results were well worth the wait.
We begin in misty 1925, a nervous Duke Of York, called as Bertie by his family, walks up to a rostrum to address an epilogue to the speech made by his father, none other than the King George V. The anxious Duke keeps on rehearsing his writeup, while the BBC guys fix everything up for the much anticipated broadcast. The sheer and meticulous detail amazes us while the Duke's diffidence feels authentic than ever.
The so-called Duke would be crowned in time as the much lauded and loved George VI. But before he can achieve those heights, Tom Hooper's film shows us a vulnerable and awkward side to this great and celebrated monarch of England. We see Bertie struggling with a speech impediment that renders him unable to give speeches and smoothly or even narrate a fairy tale to his daughters with elan. Yeah, the family might not think about the man's difficulties but the world cannot think too highly about a future monarch who cannot even speak to to his subjects.
Hooper and writer David Seidler create a genuine situation of alarm for this struggling and dejected aristocrat, beautifully played by Colin Firth. The Duke is not just a man with a problem that has destroyed his confidence. He is intrinsically a small boy who is unable to muster up enough resolve for both kingship and also his problem to be solved. Yet, he also wants to overcome his difficulties and do what his domineering father, his careless and callous sibling Edward, and the whole Empire demands from him. Firth plays his role to perfection, embodying the pain and helplessness in his awkwardness and a childlike obstinacy in his arguments. It is a role that won him the Oscar. Deservedly!
Hooper provide another angle to the man's hopes and aspirations. This is the Australian teacher Lionel Logue, who tutors him to overcome the stutter both medically and psychologically. The relationship between the two unlikely friends begins to develop and change with every twist of the plot but Logue's inspiring, if radical, methods shape the new King's confidence and his personal redemption. It is he who compels him to overcome his inner complexities and embrace his obligations fully.
Hooper and Seidler have made a fascinating film that inspires us to look deep and explore our strengths and weaknesses. But this is not a film that explores only Bertie's transformation. They also examine his relationships with people around him, his wife who stands by him right till the end and the brother, who cares little about his improvements. Guy Pierce deserves a mention for his malicious role as the self-centered Edward but next to Firth, only one man stands tall. This is Geoffrey Rush as Logue. The actor displays patience, resilience and even abundant wit as he stands parallel to Bertie's inner difficulties.
The King's Speech is truly the best film of 2010. It is a beautifully crafted story of how there is a weaker man inside every legendary figure and how weaknesses have to be overcome to achieve the destined greatness. The cinematography is wonderfully atmospheric and also metaphorical to Bertie's transformation. Hooper creates mesmerizing sequences which heighten the emotions and the conversations between Logue and Bertie are packed with emotion, revelations and a genuine rapport.
And as the climactic speech commences, we are gripped thoroughly as a man wakes up and inspires the world and the kingdom under his command. Wow!