For only the second time...I will be reviewing a full-length feature film. I will promise to do my best to not give away any important plot points of the movie in this review. But, I will still be touching on the basic plot and what I thought of it all. If you don't want it to be ruined at all...stop reading. Here for you now, on today's Vids for the Kids, I present:
The King's Speech
A few weeks ago I finally saw this movie. This is a film based on historical events, so technically I'm not really giving anything away...I'm simply teaching World History 202 right now. Yet, I think that most people today, myself included, knew NOTHING of this man and his life. To us, World War II means Hitler, FDR, Stalin, Mussolini, and from England we have Churchill. Royal family? What do they even do anymore? Well, in all honesty, not a ton, yet this film shows you how important they still are. The royal family is a symbol, an example, someone to look to, so they may not be the governing body anymore but they are still incredibly important in their own right.
So,
The King's Speech begins with a man, Albert Frederick Arthur George (which I previously shortened to "A.F.A.G." but thought better of it), The Duke of York, preparing to give a speech. Fitting. He is a member of the Royal Family and it is obvious he lacks the ability to speak in public.
He isn't king. He is The Duke of York, his father is king and his older brother is prince as well and heir to the throne. The tale of how Albert, The Duke of York actually becomes king is incredibly interesting, it is the only time in the history of England that it happened in that manner, and I won't give it away. So, through whatever way it happens, he becomes King of England and is no longer Albert...he becomes known as King George VI. The story of George VI is a great one considering that he reigned during the height of World War II, chose to remain in London despite bombings, food rations, boarded up windows on the PALACE, and limited water supply that was always cold...even for the king. He even narrowly escaped death a time or two when bombs were dropped on Buckingham Palace while the King and Queen were there. His wife, the Queen, even defiantly commented "I am glad we have been bombed. We can now look the East End in the face" because they could now see the East End of London. George VI became close personal friends with Winston Churchill during the war, despite George initially not thinking Churchill to be the best pick for Prime Minister, and the Royal Family also became incredibly close with FDR and Eleanor Roosevelt. Think about that trio of men for a minute. King George VI with his speech impediment, FDR in his wheelchair, and Churchill with his speech impediment as well that most people did not know about because he was such a grand speaker. Churchill memorized every speech he ever gave, even choreographing pauses and pretended fumblings as if he was searching for the right phrase. He has a distracting lisp that made him the butt of many jokes, so his way around it was to memorize his "impromptu speeches." F. E. Smith once said, "Winston has spent the best years of his life writing impromptu speeches." So, there's your trio of men who were supposed to be protecting the world and their countries from the Axis Powers. Yet, 2 of them can barely speak properly and 1 can barely even walk. But despite all of that, they were all 3 incredible leaders.
Watching
The King's Speech, knowing a little more about Albert/King George VI before I went in, made me sympathize with him much quicker. King George has a terrible stutter and finds it practically impossible to make public speeches, something which is becoming more necessary now considering the invention and prominence of the radio. His father is a marvelous speaker and his brother bullies him for his stammer. People can truly be so cruel sometimes. My brother stutters to this day, I occasionally do too because it's kind of ingrained into my speech because I remember hearing him talk like that and thinking that if my older brother did it, it must be cool. I used to have a lisp and eventually went to speech classes to get rid of it. I can't imagine being a grown man with a stutter who is literally forced to give public speeches. To me, after watching the intro to the movie and just seeing how George struggles to get a few words out, my heart ached and my muscles tensed up all over simply trying to give him some ability to speak. That was the very first sign I had that this was going to be a fantastic movie. 2 minutes in and I was already sympathizing with the main character so much that it hurt to see him struggle. The rest of the movie is incredibly interesting, but for sake of not giving away too much I'll summarize it like this: He tries to give a speech, but can't. He tries to get rid of his stutter with many doctors, but can't. His wife finds a professional who tries to help, but Albert sees no improvement and leaves. Eventually he realizes the improvements he was actually making right away, and then begins the movie's story of how Albert/King George VI began to conquer his stutter with the help of his wife, a specialist named Lionel Logue, and some support. There are many more side plot lines that happen in the film, but I won't go into those. Just know that they are all great and you should just see the movie if you haven't already.
Colin Firth's acting as Albert/George VI was incredible, believable, and talented. He played a man who had an incredible position of power, yet was so weak, sensitive, embarrassed, angry, proud, loving, and everything else in between. He WAS the King. Firth's acting was fantastic, as was Helena Bonham Carter's acting as Albert's wife. She usually plays the crazy woman, like in
Sweeney Todd and
Alice in Wonderland and any cooky bat-sh*t-crazy woman in a Tim Burton film. Yet, this time she took on the role of British royalty and nailed it. She marries into the Royal Family and shows that in her characterization by being a bit rough around the edges yet still prim and proper in many ways. Then, Captain Barbossa steps in, with Geoffrey Rush taking off the eye patch and playing the Australian speech therapist Lionel Logue. He plays the role amazingly as he plays the perfect combination of unorthodox and crazy (which provides a hilarious scene with Firth swearing to loosen up), yet professional and invested in his new patient and friend. I can see how Colin Firth won the Oscar for Best Actor, and I am sure it was a close race for the supporting roles for Bonham Carter and Rush, and I am not surprised at all that it won Best Picture. I wish they could have an award for most random appearance...which would definitely go to my good friend Wormtail aka Timothy Spall as he played Churchill....that was just weird.
And lastly, the small touches, such as real video and audio of King George VI speaking really made the movie hit harder and made it seem more real. I felt as though I wasn't watching a movie, but instead a close inside look behind the scenes at Albert's life as if I were just an observer, laying back and watching.
You simply need to go see this movie if you haven't already. It is fantastic. It is a great story of family, friends, love, being a father, conquering your fears, the beginnings of war, and so much more. The life of Prince Albert, later King George VI, is an incredible tale and a story that I feel was simply aching to be told in this way. Now stop reading a go see it.
The King's Speech gets a 9.5 out of 10 stars from me
(with the only deduction being that Timothy Spall was a strange choice for Winston Churchill)
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