The King's Speech

The King's Speech directed by Tom Hooper tells us the story (In a predictable, but solid manner) of King George VI and his attempt to grapple with feelings of inadequacy and responsibility (brought to life by his struggle with speech.) For those not inculcated in film culture, apparently this is remarkable in being well-received by critics in addition to having broad mainstream appeal. (It grossed something on the order of $140 Million.) However, what makes this film important to us is the exquisite (Or so I'm told) historical accuracy, right down to the textbook that Firth's son studies in addition to the display of technical mastery by Hooper and co.

I'm not a film critic by any sense of the word, but I found the editing and shots were fantastic. I think that Hooper's use of scene was brilliant. Nearly every scene was filled with tension, and the perspective of the shot's only added to that effect. This does not mean, however, that the scenes were in any way derivative (not even the montage scenes!) Scenes were broken cleanly into thematic units, in my opinion not a single scene was wasted or weighted down by other factors. The historical impact of this was a clear chronology and narrative. Things were happening in the plot, and the audience has a clear idea of when and why these events occurred. A characteristic, that in most historical(ish) movies, is severely lacking; the effect being the director saying: 'Look! Cool things happening over here, but wait this thing was also pretty cool.'

If it wasn't impressed by the shooting of the movie, the technical aspects were added by Hooper's team in order to blow me away. I came away from the movie firmly believing that what I had seen in the film in terms of environment and aesthetics were ripped straight from the mind of an elderly British person, with some sort of advanced 'cut and paste' machinery. Seriously, throwing in a high pitched narrator change the film into grainy black and white and I doubt that even historians could tell the difference. Needless to say, the lighting and sound were always appropriate to the plot as well as the historical reality at all times. I think Hooper should be given several awards for resisting the 'heroic' lighting style seen in too many 'based on a true story' period films. No heavenly beams of sunlight announcing the Firth is tantamount to Jesus (a la, 300/Patriot/Hamburger Hill), just a gritty sense of realism that plays perfectly into the tone of the movie.

I came to this movie prepared to write a scathing critique of mass -media films as a medium for History, ready to suggest that Historians collectively ban anything that doesn't have at least three Columbia graduates as advisers in addition to a sustained campaign of seizing and destroying all copies of 300. Pleasantly, I can say that The King's Speech reaffirmed my faith in the humanity (and intellectual honesty) of at least some of those involved in the entertainment industry.