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MarketBOB's Movie

Review

The King’s Speech

Movie Review

© 2011 by Sportscar Projects Ltd.

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The King’s Speech

February 1, 2011

Your Majesty, you speak for the nation in this time of war and you d-d-don’t want to b-b-blow it! This triumph of mind over tongue will make you root for King George VI and his peculiar speech therapist, Lionel Logue; the new Dr. Doolittle and Eliza of film.

One Word Movie Review: GREAT

Some movies are born great, some achieve

greatness and some have greatness

reluctantly thrust upon them. The

King’s Speech belongs in the last

category, telling the tale of a reluctant

royal hiding behind his childhood

stammer only to take center stage later

in life at the precise moment of his

country’s finest hour. Growing up in

the age of wireless (radio), Kings no

longer can pass muster by looking regal and

waving to crowds. No, they have to talk to their

nation through the broadcast microphone and it

is this fearsome object which opens the movie

and dominates the life of “Bertie”, the second

son of George V and ultimately the King of

Britain during the Second World War.

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The King’s Speech starts in 1925 and ends in

1939, following the Duke of York’s painful

attempts to communicate with his subjects. We

learn of his troubled childhood and the roots of

his stutter and journey with him towards his

ultimate test, his speech to the worried nation

when war is declared against Hitler’s Germany.

In the end, it is “only” a speech but it tests this

man to the very core of his being and together,

we honestly root for him to overcome his

impediment and deliver the justification for war

to a weary nation still haunted from the horrors

of the First World War only twenty years

earlier.

This is a classic character study about a man

determined to live on the fringe of power,

deferring to others and content within his

limitations yet asked to step into the spotlight

after death and love clear the path before him.

His speech impediment makes him less royal

and more commoner, much like his therapist’s

insistence on first names. We have a

Pygmalion story, between Bertie and Lionel

(played by Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush)

where Lionel uses his experience treating WWI

shell-shocked soldiers struck dumb by their

trauma to teach Bertie how to overcome his

own personal war wounds inflicted during his

childhood in the trenches of Royal Family life.

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Firth and Rush are superb in their roles, a two-

handed Eliza and Professor Higgins relationship

(together, apart, together), divided by class and

upbringing – Lionel is an Aussie - egad man, a

colonial in the King’s chambers!

Firth plays Bertie, the future King George VI as

a flawed but brave man, centered by family and

tradition. You root for him to the point where,

when he makes his climactic speech at the end,

you mouth the words along with him. It is a

tribute to the skill of the actor that you become

engaged fully with what is really a simple story

where nothing much happens. Hell, it’s just a

man making a speech into the wireless. Like

most of life’s defining moments, it is not the

final act but the preparation that truly shapes a

victory; whether within an internal minefield of

memories or the more cinematic, exploding

battlefields we see so often in the theater.

The audience clapped at the end of this film and

an audible buzz of conversation mixed with the

classical score playing over the end credits.

The 12 Oscar nominations helped to boost the

box office for this movie released initially way

back in November, 2010. Audiences love the

characters and the storytelling. There are no

zombies or 3D fantasy worlds and the only

exorcisms are of the tongue-tied elocutions of a

man who shouldn’t been king.

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The Story

From the opening shots of the radio microphone,

looking like a bomb suspended on a stick, we are

transported to an earlier time and place. The use

of the word “wireless” was as magical as it is

today, freedom from the connecting wires of

daily life as we know it. The radio was the voice

of the moment, the live medium joining a nation

together. We end with this same magic

connection, as crowds huddle around their radios

to listen to a King justify going to war again.

In between these radio bookends, the battle of

wills between patient and therapist is played out

in an unorthodox setting; his room, his rules.

Lionel Logue (sounds like tongue) insists on

treating the Royal Duke in his own way and

Bertie must accept his methods or walk away. Of

course there wouldn’t be much of a story if he

just jumped into Logue’s lap and embraced the

cure right away. No, there is the social chasm

between them, the long history of failure (try

smoking to relax your larynx or speak with a

mouthful of marbles) and the seductive lure of a

retreat to a quiet family life as the older brother

assumes the throne.

Ah, but this is a true story and all the more real

because each brother has flaws making them

unsuitable for kingship. Elder brother Edward

has the hots for an American twice-divorced

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“lady” and eventually abdicates his crown. There

is nowhere to run, nowhere to hide anymore for

Bertie; he must be king and he must speak to the

nation.

There is a great moment when Bertie watches

Adolf Hitler deliver a speech and he admires the

ability of the German leader to rouse the crowd

and spit out his message with stirring confidence

and emotion. He knows the competition is fierce

and the future of his country is at stake.

In the end, the stage is set and the speech begins.

We hang on every word, every pause as the King

fights his battle. His therapist urges him to speak

only to him and it bloody well does the job. We

are treated to a real-life Hollywood ending to this

British tale of a King with a stiff upper lip and a

wayward tongue.

The Genre

The dramatic biopic genre is always popular if

rarely done these days. There are few public

figures worthy of admiration so this might

explain the draw of history retold for us in

easily-digested two hour time capsules. The

King’s Speech and the recent 127 Hours (both

nominated for Oscars for Best Picture) are

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examples of the drama experienced by real

people in real situations.

We live in a fantasy world these days, fed by the

web and the spinning heads of the media pundits.

What is real becomes harder and harder to distill

from the noise of news as entertainment we

experience every day. Reality TV helps us to see

others fully exposed and we stare back in awe and

ridicule and voyeuristic greed.

The King’s Speech is a fine addition to this classic

genre, depicting a small slice of history in human

terms we can admire and embrace for a few hours

in the dark with cell phones turned off and the

remote control far, far away.

The Overall Quality

The twelve Oscar nominations speak to the

quality of The King’s Speech, including nods for

the big categories of Best Picture, Director and

Actor.

Colin Firth appears to have a lock on Best Actor

and it is deserved for his portrayal of the flawed,

dignified and traditional Bertie. Tom Hooper

directs in an intimate style, of rooms and faces

and family life. When the movie expands to

Bertie’s coronation in Westminster Abbey, the

soaring interior is a shock after so many intimate

spaces. The script is balanced, with enough

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humor to break the formal stuffiness of the main

character. Words are front and center, the core of

the story and they are used with careful thought

here, including profanity with purpose.

This is a great film, modest of budget and

marketing push but well worth seeking out for a

night’s escape and thoughtful conversation

afterwards.

Movie/Market Analysis

The Movie Mood for audiences is Positive. The King’s

Speech is a film for the mature crowd who enjoy a seat

next to a window into another time and place. Bertie

warns his therapist “not to sit too close” but we can move

right into the King’s inner circle and enjoy the intimate

details of their lives.

MarketBOB's Sentiment Indicators, the GQS (Genre,

Quality, Story) rate The King’s Speech an emotional

BULL. Who doesn’t admire the courage and

dedication of a man attempting to overcome his

limitations as the stakes ratchet higher and higher for

him and his nation?

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Craig Forgrave (MarketBOB)

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