Drama at its very best

Tom Hooper’s The King’s Speech, which walked away with four Oscars,
is rich in period detail and meticulous class distinction 

NOT since Jean Anouilh’s Becket in the mid-1960s have I seen an uplifting, inspirational and dramatic story of the growing relationship between two men as in The King’s Speech, which walked away with four Oscars last month. In Becket, it was Peter O’Toole (Best Actor Oscar) and Richard Burton, who played King Henry VIII and Archbishop Thomas Becket respectively. In The King’s Speech, it is Colin Firth as King George VI and Geoffrey Rush as his speech teacher Lionel Logue.

Though King George VI was our king (in a manner of speaking), we knew little of his impairment of speech, or stammering as it is better known as. Yet, this film is all about his stammering and his efforts to rid him of this ailment. That much research has gone into the making of the film, there is little doubt but how much licence is taken is not very clear. Still, scriptwriter David Seidler has done a grand job of bringing this conflict out in the open. 

And Australian director Tom Hooper has pushed the envelope even further with his compelling, even magical liaison between these two diverse characters, one royalty, the other commoner, one eccentric, the other even more so (both picked up the Oscars). How will this drama end while sticking to history?

Rich in period detail and meticulous class distinction, it gladly sidesteps the bigger story of World War II and the scourge of Adolf Hitler that loomed over the period. Director Hooper also chooses to use interiors, long and narrow radio control rooms instead of outdoors more common in historicals and starts with Albert or Bertie (Colin Firth) as George VI was known in family circles, making heavy weather while opening the British Empire Exhibition in 1925. It is an establishing shot and from then, his stutter became his very shadow.

Radio was a new invention and to speak eloquently was one of the key requisites of a monarch. This was insisted upon by his disciplinarian dad George V, who always thought the younger brother was more talented but Edward still had a shot at the throne only to be forced to abdicate because of his much-married spouse.

One can only marvel at the pains taken to deal with stammering. That both Firth and a beardless, almost unrecognisable Rush, live through the motions of stammering is commendable. Firth was rewarded with the Best Actor Oscar but Rush, too, deserved one as Best Supporting Actor, he was better than Christian Bale in The Fighter. What’s more, the pauses, which Hooper imbues this drama with, not only add to the suspense but also give it a lofty epic edge. In all of 120 minutes, there is no loose footage whatsoever. Drama at its very best.

There is no dearth of cameos — Michael Gammon’s King George V, Guy Pearce’s Edward VIII, Eve Best’s Wallis Simpson and Timothy Spall’s Churchill are all grist for the mill but Helena Bonham Carter deserves a special mention as the sensitive, supporting wife of George VI. It’s an absolute must-see for all, nostalgia for the old, history for the young.

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