Kings Speech Movie Critique

At first glance, I would put this in the drama category of movies.  Upon further examination I would classify this movie, as a historical drama as the story, for the most part, is historically accurate.  This film is a drama due to the characters being portrayed as realistic and dealing with emotional issues.  Although the film does not have enough comedic moments to classify it as a comedy, it does have a few comedic elements that make the audience laugh, though most of the movie is fairly serious.

The movie is about King George VI, and his speech impediment.  His father dies and initially leaves the throne to his brother, who is a hothead and is not fit to rule the country and must forfeit his throne due to a divorce.  Later in the movie, King George VI takes over as King, but is embarrassed multiple times when he tries to speak publically and cannot get the words out.  The King tries multiple treatments but all to no avail.  Then he meets a speech therapist who has a very positive impact on his life.

The creative elements of this film are its beauty of dialogue and keeping the audience captivated throughout the film.  In essence, this movie is about curing a speech impediment, but the director does an excellent job of creating intriguing dialogue that not only develops the plot, but also adds humor as well.  One of the creative elements of the film is the portrayal of the king and the teacher throughout the film.  It is interesting because the King, who has all of the money in the world, suffers from a speech impediment, but the teacher, who is struggling for money, speaks perfectly fine.  The King is used to people greeting him with the utmost respect, but the teacher throws this out of the window.  He treats the king as a normal human being, and at times, this bothers the King and makes him irate.  The manner of which the teacher goes about teaching the King is more effective than the so called experts of the time.

Historians will favor this film first, and foremost, for the excellent acting that happens in the film.  Colin Firth, who plays King George VI plays the king with the speech impediment, and he does an excellent job.  At no time throughout the movie does the audience feel as if Firth does not have a speech impediment.  Secondly, the movie is so gripping.  When one watches the movie they are not bothered by the speech impediment, or that the jokes punchline sometimes takes a little longer than normal to come into play.  The symbolism of this movie is superb.  It is not only about the King finding his voice, but symbolically we can all relate to this.  Although we may not have a speech impediment, everyone, at one time or another, has struggled with finding their voice and this film inspires us all to do so.