The Kings Speech- A Review

THE KINGS SPEECH

*****

Directed by Tom Hooper and starring Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush, THE KINGS SPEECH definately defies the expectations of its audience and delivers a sucker punch more powerful than Rocky and more rewarding as well.

The film depicts the struggles in ascendancy of King George VI, who is affectionately known to his family as Bertie, as he is thrust forward into the position of Monarch after a series of unfortunate, sometimes funny, sometimes sad events. It begins with a blinking red light and the image of the future king standing nervously in a grey stairwell as his fear grows silently behind his well-dressed exterior. The event is Wembley Stadium and the speech will be broadcast over radio, so every stutter and spit will be amplified to not just the thousands in the stadium but to the millions listening over the short wave. Considering then that the audience should have little in common with this man they see before them, these opening scenes are both brilliantly tense and for somebody with a speech problem, like I, incredibly identifiable.

The Kings Speech is not just " Rocky with stuttering" but is a much more tender, rewarding experience for the viewer as we watch Firth play the character brilliantly, stepping outside his often type-cast a little for this role. Many who felt Firth to have been robbed of the 2010 Oscar for A SIMPLE MAN will be relieved to know that he is sure of another nomination here and, if there's any justice in the world, he should be the one walking up the steps to claim his statuette. Helena Bonham Carter shines here, although is given a sparse amount of screentime but where she does play, she brings a great sense of warmth and dignity that brilliantly connects with the sometimes cold nature of Firths character.

At moments this is funny, at others this is heart wrenching and at its best, it combines both elements. Geoffrey Rush gives an understated but very comical performance as Logue; who remains believably eccentric throughout the course of the piece. One scene that will dazzle is later on in the drama, where King George VI is in the final steps to his unwanted ascendancy and argues the fact with Logue, claiming that he has overstepped the mark. One suspects that he has not but simply that the new King, who later breaks down in the arms of his wife, was simply trying to avoid facing the inevitable and somewhat ugly truth of his new responsibility. Carters line that " you stammer so beautifully that I thought they'd just leave us alone", sums up the feeling of this cute couple as they deal with the new world thrust upon them and their children.

The cause of his stammering is explored well and instead of reverting to the usual flashback style, the past is neatly placed in the present as we travel down the path to recovery with the King. His Brother, having relinquished the throne to run off with an unsavoury woman, is particularly cited as a cause and a scene at a country house during which he refers to our protagonist as B-B- Bertie, reminds the audience of the torment he may have suffered as a child at the hands of an expecting, traditional family; bound by the terms of their engagement and unable to escape from the confines of expectation.

The death of his Father stirs new emotions in Bertie and he grieves for the loss of his privacy as oppose to the loss of his Father; who we suspect he hated but respected. The childlike presence of Bertie around Logues toy aircraft is a particularly poignant example of the past meeting the present through a fear of the future.

When it all comes together this film is brilliant and a shining light of greatness in amongst the somewhat barren wasteland we find ourselves traversing most years. To discover it's British heritage is pleasing and to know that it will be a crowning glory upon our struggling film industry is a comfort. Currently sitting atop the Box Office, The Kings Speech may just secure a generation of a talent some semblance of an industry to inherit.