The films available here in our local Dublin cinemas, for the most part, have been the standard Hollywood fare this year. This means remakes of television shows, remakes of other films, more comic book superhero films, copycat romcoms, more sequels, and all I can say is...
...thank goodness for December, which marks the beginning of the release season for the majority of award worthy films.
Most studios tend to release their more serious films towards the end of the year to qualify for the Academy Awards. This means that, for me, the bar is now raised quite high on the cinema quality scale compared to what's usually available the remainder of the year.
Case in point... The King's Speech.
I walked out of this screening having felt that I just had the privilege of seeing an Oscar winning film. I have no idea if will even be nominated but it should win for something, I hope.
The heart of this story is the friendship between the King (Colin Firth) and his speech therapist (Geoffrey Rush). I wasn't aware that King George VI had a stammer and this film dramatizes in an excellent way how he had to deal with his speech problem at perhaps Britain's most difficult moment leading up to World War II, whereby the King most needed the respect and support of his people.
Colin Firth gave a memorable performance as the King as did Geoffrey Rush in his role as the King's speech savior.
This was a tumultuous time for Britain as King George V had recently died, leaving his eldest son, King Edward VIII to take the throne. Edward VIII later abdicated his royal position so that he could marry the love of his life, an American divorcee. This allowed George VI to become King in the middle of the Great Depression as Hitler threatened Europe.
Excellent performances all around (except for the actor portraying Churchill who played him as a caricature), excellent screenplay, beautiful cinematography and music, and of course the period costumes and sets were top notch.
I promise you that if you see this film in a theater that you will walk out with a more enlightened and humble spirit. I certainly did...
