Sunday, January 16, 2011

Day 425: The King's Speech

Are you a Colin Firth fan? I am. I have enjoyed his movies ever since his performance as the amazing Mr. Darcy in Pride and Prejudice. True, not all of his films are a "must see," some are just tongue-in-cheek ridiculous. But his latest film, The King's Speech, is far and away his most amazing performance ever. He plays King George VI, the King of England who had a horrible speech stammer.

I realize this does not sound like the premise for a happening movie....I mean what the heck? There's no action, no violence, no sex, no romance, no devious plotters trying to pull off the crime of a century. Perhaps that's why it won't do well at the box office. This is a movie about a real life person...who just happens to be the Duke of York...and 2nd in line to the throne. His battle with the embarrassment of his stuttering problem became particularly monumental with the invention of radio. His struggle with his problem made him a real-life underdog. His courage drove him to face his challenge, even though in doing so, he risked public humiliation and worse, being mocked by his own family members.

I found myself cheering the humble King on....nervous for him every time he faced the microphone. I do not overstate it when I say I walked out of the theatre feeling enriched. Very few movies have done that for me in the past. Too often, I walk away from movies feeling offended or dirty....like I need a bath. This one is different.

The honest truth is, it never occured to me that this was an "R" rated movie. I didn't know it ahead of time, and I never gave it a thought thereafter, until I told my 15-year-old that I wanted her to see it. "Mom, it's rated R!" That was a complete shock to me. So I'll tell you... If you have made the personal committment to not watch R-rated movies, then I will not encourage you to break your committment. But I will tell you exactly why this one got an R-rating. There is no immodesty. There is no violence. There are no immoral scenes. All is quite proper, in fact. But... as the Duke becomes frustrated with himself during his one-on-one lessons with his speech therapist, he let's a few words fly....It's done in a totally non-offensive way, and is most humorous...definitely not directed at another person in any way. He finds that when he cusses, he doesn't stammer... so he uses that to help him prepare for a big speech. That's it. That is the whole reason the movie was given its "R" rating.

So... if you are up for something different....and you love Collin Firth (by the way, some of our favorites from Harry Potter are in there too..... Dumbledore, Wormtail, and Bellatrix LeStrange,) and you do not need sex, violence, drugs, loud action, or romance in order to enjoy a movie,,,, then I highly recommend you pay the money to see this one at the theatre, and lend your support to the making of truly, high-quality, classic movies..... Something we are sorely lacking these days.

No comments: