The King's Speech

The King's Speech is a favorite with my family.  My sister gave this movie earlier this year.  I didn't think that I really wanted to watch the movie, but I was in the mood for watching something different and thought why not and was very pleased with the decision. 

This week's blogs were more difficult because we had to find the symbolism in the movies but more so in this film the characterization stands out to me.  You cannot help but love the characters in this film.  This is apparently the story of the real life characters which made it all the more appealing and you grow to feel for Albert and his speech impediment.  It is a movie that you root for the underdog to come out on top.  You feel the audience in the film with each speech hoping this will be the speech that he will make it through without stuttering.  You see the audience including yourself silently pushing out the words as if this will help him get his words out. Very engaging and so, so charming and warm.

To find the symbolism in this movie, I chose not to host a "Help Me movie watching party" but rather enjoyed it over and over.  The movie itself is about a symbol... the King of England, the symbolic leader who has certain duties concerning the country.  Albert does not want to be King because he believes he is not qualified to be the country's symbolic leader. 

He has a great fear and how the filmmaker gets this point out is not in words spoken necessarily by Albert but the repeated film shots of the microphone and the fear it causes Albert.  It could have just as well been a blood-thirsty werewolf or the devil himself but I don't think that Albert would have considered them as frightening as that long walk to the microphone.  You feel the dread and the gut wrenching nerves as the shot of that unattended microphone is viewed then a shot to Albert's face leaves no room for guessing - you can relate in some way to the fear that is presented to you in the film.  The silence in the movie with the sound of a horse whinnying and a dog barking symbolizes the long paused silences that one expects when Albert is speaking.  The shots of the radio audiences and the looks passed around symbolizes the question of will Albert make it through.  During the final speech you want to stand up and cheer with the audience in the movie.  This is what gives this film the universal appeal and universal symbols used in the film are what all audiences can relate to.

I am not sure if this is stretching a bit with the next thought of symbolism, but the toy planes that Lionel's boys make show the desire that Albert craved as a child to be allowed to explore his interests and not those of the ones others deemed Albert should have instead.  You feel for Albert in the pressures that the Royals felt and the very young age that he knew that someday there was a chance he would be a asked to lead. 

Lionel's office was a focus.  I may be stretching a bit here as well, but the director has so many wide shots of the enormous office that was very simple and contained only a minimal amount of furnishings.  Albert was still just a man and not a Royal in this office. There was safety within the office that as the movie progressed it was intimate. 

The film was great and is a movie that invites the audience to be apart of the success of Albert and him overcoming his biggest fear so that he might become the man that he was supposed to be.  Lionel's character is just as lovable and you see how he genuinely wants to help. I will admit I sing my thoughts as Lionel taught Albert to do to help with flow.  I do it to help with thoughts but more importantly for the pleasure of annoying anyone else around me who disagrees that I should have been the next American Idol winner!