Now that we are through with the Oscar hoopla, let’s check what The King’s Speech is actually all about. This is an extremely well crafted and sensitive film that highlights a British monarch’s struggle against all odds to overcome a disability and prove he is a worthy king.
Oscar- friendly words in that above sentence: British monarch, struggle against all odds, disability. The King’s Speech was manufactured to rule at the Oscars, over nine other ‘ extremely well crafted and sensitive films’ that were also nominated in the Best Film category.
The Oscars love history but not many among the vast bank of Academy voters are historians. Inaccuracy of facts is no grave sin therefore, and The King’s Speech wholly cashes in on as much to augment drama.
Nowhere in history has it been said that King George VI (Colin Firth in his Best Actor Oscar winning role) did stammer to such extreme extents as the film shows. He was known to be tongue- tied, a mild stutterer at best. For the sake of political correctness, the sympathy Edward VIII (Guy Pearce), brother of George VI, had for the Nazis has been glossed over in this script, although that bit was a burning issue in its time. Winston Churchill was known to be portly, but certainly not fat as actor Timothy Spall (who plays Churchill in the film) portrays.
And the textbook George VI was a man of medium height, far removed from Colin Firth’s six- foot plus frame. I don’t want to sound as if I am cribbing. On contrary, The King’s Speech is a highly enjoyable cinematic experience. My point is a film that bags four major Oscars can be expected to be a little more responsible with facts.
The year is 1939. Britain is all set to wage war with Germany. Edward VIII has abdicated his right to be king because he wants to marry a divorcee. Which leaves the palace with no option but to pass the throne to Edward’s brother Albert or Bertie, who will subsequently be titled King George VI. Bertie’s wife Elizabeth (Helena Bonham Carter) takes it on herself to make him a worthy monarch. After several attempts, she track down a small time Australian actor named Lionel Logue (Geoffrey Rush) who runs a speech therapy session.
The script acquires its true dimension of drama with the entry of Rush as Logue. He realises in order to cure Bertie, it is important he be friends with the king rather than a serving subject. The narrative essentially thrives on the chemistry Firth and Rush strike.
For a film largely shot indoors, all credits go to director Tom Hooper for making The King’s Speech visually fascinating. What’s unconventional about the sets of this film is that Hooper avoids the colourful grandeur of a royal milieu even in the palace scenes. It’s almost as if the director was trying to define the bleak state of the king’s mind through his sets.
The King’s Speech is British history in fiction. The bright side is, this is good fiction.
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