Review "The King's Speech"

Last evening, I went with a friend of mine, to see "The King's Speech." It is based on King George the VI's stuttering and difficulty with Public Speaking. The story was more than a commentary on a member of royalty with a speaking problem. It was a multidimensional story of Relationships.

The film was a story of a loving wife, Myrtle, who wanted her husband, whom she truly loved, to overcome his fear of public speaking, especially because he was a public figure.

King George the VI (Bertie) had a speech impediment, he stuttered. He believed his impediment was his cross to bear.

It seemed that Bertie didn’t believe that he had a choice of whether to accept the impediment or to overcome the impediment and allow himself to fully express his talents and abilities. His stuttering was a physical manifestation of his own self-doubts and how he learned to deal with them as a child.

The film was a story of a relationship between someone who had an impediment and a healer, i.e., someone who could help the king challenge his self-doubts and channel the King's energies into overcoming the impediment. The first set of doctors, were the academically trained medical experts, those sanctioned by the culture. George the VI gave up on their techniques.  Myrtle also knew that they were not able to help her husband. As doctors they followed the conventional “wisdoms.” To her credit, unbeknown to her husband, Myrtle continued searching for a healer. When she found Lionel Louge, person who offered help to those with a speech defect, she had to take a leap of faith that Lionel could help her husband. Her leap of faith was required because Lionel did not fit the cultural norms that she had been accustomed to. He spoke as if her husband had the power to heal himself. With some fuss, the first appointment was set up.

Once the King (Bertie) and Lionel encountered each other, they began an awkward dance. If Bertie had a chance to get beyond his stuttering, then he had to put aside his cultural and family training in order to take the risk to be himself. Taking the risk would allow Bertie to be the creative person that he was. The question became, can Bertie shift paradigms? The healer knew the King had to be willing to examine the elements that had put the impediment in place, and open himself to the possibility that he could overcome his stuttering. In other words, the King had to develop a better relationship with himself and with his past in order to create his future. As in any dance, there are forward and backward movements. Any dance involves development of a relationship between dancers, a meshing of rhythms.  Initially the dance steps between Bertie and Lionel were not smooth, but as the relationship developed the steps became synchronized allowing faith, openness and trust to lead the way. It was interesting to see Bertie slowly develop the confidence in himself, allowing himself to be vulnerable to Lionel and Lionel’s techniques. Eventually, he was able to give a great speech as he led England during the crisis of the Second World War.

This film is great for two main reasons: First, it is a great story beautifully told, and photographed; Second, the story mirrors the issues that we all must face in one way or another. The first question Bertie and we must face was do we allow our past, including the malformations that we learned dictate our future? The second question that Bertie and we must face is do we have the courage, the faith and the openness to take risks and create our future?

The long and the short is that “The King’s Speech” is a great movie that I highly recommend that you see.