This past weekend, before the Devil Flu from Hell struck, I took myself to see The King's Speech. Let me start by saying that I love me some Colin Firth - ever since he and his white shirt dove into that tranquil pond in Pride & Prejudice, I have loved him. I loved him in Bridget Jones (Mr. Darcy playing Mr. Darcy? Genius!) and hell, I even loved him in Mamma Mia! and that is saying something. He was, as I recall, an early entry onto the legen (wait for it) dary Wall of Men that traveled with Cara and I into four dorm rooms in college.
The King's Speech is a wonderful film. It is not flashy, it is not filled with high speed chases or lots of explosions, it is a quiet film, exploring one man's struggle with a stammer. He was no ordinary man, of course, he was the Duke of York, the Spare Prince, #2, the invisible man, never to be King. Destiny changed all that for him when his playboy brother David (who was Edward VIII for a short short while) abdicated the throne for that "twice divorced, American woman" Wallis Simpson before they headed off to their "vee-la" in France (sorry, the above quotes were for my own amusement - I had a thing for Edward VIII in school and did an AP European history project on his non-existent reign).
Suddenly, the man in the background found himself center stage, at a time when the world was about to get sucked in to another global conflict. He had no actual politcal power, like to form a government, but everyone looked to him for guidance. The people need you, Bertie. So public speaking became important and he looked to the "common colonial" Lional Logue for assistance for getting rid of the stutter. The relationship with these two men lasted the rest of George VI's lifetime.
It's a wonderful story, a little slice of life. The cast is all kinds of star powered - aside from Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush, it includes Helena Bonham Carter as the Queen Mum, leading off a Harry Potter reunion of sorts with Michael Gambon as George V, and Timothy Spall as Winston Churchill. Also in the cast are Jennifer Ehle (from P&P - squee!) Sir Derek Jacobi, Guy Pierce and, something that will probably interest only me, but it is my blog, right, so I'm gonna mention it - Anthony Andrews as Prime Minister Baldwin. Mr. Andrews is a wonderful actor who once played Edward VIII in a little made for tv movie called "The Woman He Loved". He also played Sebastian in "Brideshead Revisited" - not the recent movie, an older version, a dashing Scarlet Pimpernel, and a bomb squad officer in a lovely little series called "Danger UXB"). He has about two scenes in this film, and it took me until the second one to recognize him, but sure enough, there he was.
Anyway. Do yourselves a favor, this Oscar weekend, and go see The King's Speech. There will always (always) be another Adam Sandler move (trust me). But this one is a sweet little gem and is not to be missed.
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