The King's Speech is a movie that was released in 2010 and was directed by Tom Hooper. Before my senior year of high school, I was forced to watch the movie in the summer. I was never a fan of the movies we were forced to watch and books we were forced to read. I never found them interesting until I watched The King's Speech. This movie is about a man named Bertie but he's not just any ordinary man. He is second in line to the throne. His father King George V currently is King of the nation. Bertie's brother is next in line. Soon into the book, King George V passes away and Bertie's brother takes the throne. Soon after that, Bertie's brother leaves the throne to marry a divorced American, meaning that Bertie is now King. There's only one problem with him being King. Bertie is very determined and knows his duties as King, but he has a severe stutter.
Every single time Bertie is required to speak to mass amounts of people, he stutters an insane amount. It is so hard for him to get out a single sentence. If he were to recite an entire speech in front of a large crowd, with his stutter it would take hours for the speech to finish. We're never really given a reason as to why Bertie has a stutter, but the cause seems to be because of childhood trauma. Bertie's stutter is so severe, it is pretty much impossible for him to be able to give a single speech. Bertie has a wife (Elizabeth) who's very supportive of him and trying to fix the solution. So Bertie and Elizabeth try speech therapy for him. They go to many therapists but it seems pointless as no one is helping. Just when Bertie is about to quit, Elizabeth convinces him to go to one more person, named Lionel. Bertie thinks that there's no use and no one and nothing will ever fix his problem. So Bertie goes in being very skeptical.
In the beginning, Bertie is very uncooperative with Lionel but Lionel is convinced by the end of the sessions that Bertie's stutter will completely disappear. At the beginning of the sessions, Bertie says it's no use and says he's never going back. But eventually, his purpose drives him to return to Lionel. There is a scene where Lionel makes Bertie listen to music while reading and reciting different lines. Lionel recorded Bertie talking, and for the first time ever, Bertie spoke completely normally. No stutter at all. Since Bertie couldn't hear himself speak, he thought he stuttered throughout the entire thing. Bertie left with feelings of failure and anger towards himself. But Lionel gave Bertie the recording of him speaking. One day at his house, Bertie decides to give the recording a listen and realized, that it's himself speaking with no interruptions. There wasn't a single stutter and this drove Bertie to go back to Lionel and not stop going back. After multiple sessions throughout the movie, Bertie ends up having to give a speech at the end of the film to the entire nation. Great Britain is about to go to war so he has to give speeches to rally the nation to give them courage. Bertie goes into a broadcasting room with Lionel to give the speech and does it perfectly, inspiring people all over England.
The main reason why I enjoyed this movie, and recommend it to everyone else, is because it has an element of everything. The movie is rated R but the only reason for that is because of some of the language. It's a very calm movie with a smooth plotline and I feel like it has a little bit of everything. There are strong themes of comedy, friendship, marriage, responsibilities, and self-motivation. The relationship between Lionel and Bertie is very important too. As a King, typically the kings feel above everyone else, especially people who are Australian (which is Lionel's nationality by the way). And to see Lionel and Bertie form this friendship is not common in the setting of this movie, the 1930s. Lionel and Bertie ended up being best friends for the rest of there lives and that was not common of people in higher class England. The conversations between the two were also comical every now and then. It gives good comic relief to the tension of wondering if Bertie will ever lose his stutter. The film also has a very good, non-cliche ending. It was a very simple ending with Bertie inspiring the entire country with his words. This movie also can relate to many common people. It shows how even those who are given everything at birth still struggle with problems within themselves. There's a reason why this movie won 4 Oscars in total. It provides a very good story without overdoing it. I recommend this movie to anyone who's looking for inspiration or just a good story enriched film.
Ian Ransonet
No comments:
Post a Comment