The King's Speech

Photo credit: http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2011/jan/06/the-kings-speech-review

Last Sunday, I headed to One Utama to watch the screening of The King’s Speech – a period drama about Colin Firth’s Duke of York, soon to be King George VI, coming to grips with the speech impediment that has rendered public speaking an agonizing embarrassment. Based on real events, it focuses on the emerging friendship between two unlikely men – the introverted stammerer and the spirited speech therapist (Geoffrey Rush as Lionel Logue).

Overall the movie is a sometimes poignant, often funny, and always intelligent portrait of a standoffish man who found his voice, a reluctant prince who became King. The acting is really splendid. Pay special attention to the opening scene. Firth's face is a despondent picture of distressing discomfort, under his top hat. It is as if his life has been sucked out from him, leaving just an empty shell of a man that is overwhelmed by despairing anguish. It is his first public appearance, required to speak through a microphone to an overflowing crowd at Wembley stadium, and via live radio to the nation. His stammer means patience is grievously tested before anyone can make sense of anything that he is saying, and his subjects can only wince with disquieting awkwardness. For sure, this movie is far more interesting than it sounds. Probably one of the best dramatizations ever made of an episode in history. Director Tom Hooper has given movie-goers an excellent must-watch film. Yes, I enjoyed the show very much.