[REVIEW] Film "The King’s Speech"

"The King's Speech" [Parmount Pictures]

There are people who live their lives doing what they want to do and others who do what they have to do. King George VI of Britain or 'Bertie' (Colin Firth) who was suddenly crowned king due to the untimely death of his father falls in the latter category. All he wanted was to live a quiet and peaceful life in the palace with his lovely wife and his dear little daughters. But when his elder brother Edward VIII (Guy Pearce) created the love story of the century by renouncing his rights to the throne after falling for American divorcee Simpson, it becomes George VI’s responsibility to assume the royal line he had no desire of taking up. Also given his speech problem, the job as a king of the 20th century where he has to talk to thousands of people through various programs looked anything but simple.

So get another job - was what Lionel Logue (Geoffrey Rush), a private linguistic therapist suggested to George VI’s wife Elizabeth (Helena Bonham Carter) when she visits him in search of the cure for her stammering husband. It would be great if that was possible but this is the king of the United Kingdom. For this king, the walk he takes to reach the broadcasting studio waiting to turn on its 'on-air' sign is no different from a 'Dead Man Walking' for he has to make a speech in front of the public who are in deep despair from experiencing World War II.

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"The King's Speech" [Parmount Pictures]

The speech shown at “The King’s Speech” that premiered on Thursday may be easier to watch if you can look past the fact that it is based on true story of the father of the present queen Elizabeth II and that it has won Academy Award for Best Picture this year. Even better if you can focus on the humor and wit displayed by Colin Firth who was the very symbol of British-style dignity and listen carefully to the detailed lessons headed by Geoffrey Rush’s 'mentor school.'

George VI who was at the verge of going down as the most solemn king in history, meets with several highly reputed doctors in order to cure his problem. Logue among them was actually an actor with a failed career in Australia and without a decent degree. However having built his own expertise outside the school while treating soldiers who came to stammer from the shock of the war, he understood that the more urgent issue is to soothe the hurt soul within him rather than what is on the outside. So he brings to light that 'something' which has been preventing Bertie from speaking properly for all those years. The entire treating process taking place in Logue’s humble office instead of a large palace shows that this film is not a tearful story of a king overcoming his disability but the joyful beginning of a friendship between two men who met as mentor and mentee beyond social class and birth.

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