The Kings Speech

Saw the Kings Speech at the Sorrento Atheneum Cinema with my sister

I can see why it has 12  Academy Award nominations, It is brilliant!! I think its the best movie I have seen for a while. It has to beat Inception, Black Swan,  The Social Network, Toy Story 3 and five other films. Geoffrey Rush deserves to win best supporting actor-he was brilliant!

The film is about the current Queen of England's father: King George VI  from the time before he becomes King to his first wartime speech.   There are two parallel stories. The first is the King's speech problem. His wife Elizabeth (we would know her later as The Queen Mother) arranges for an Australian speech therapist Lionel George Logue to treat the King's stammer.

The second story deals the dramatic political events gripping England: who would be King and the looming World War Two. King George VI only became king because his brother,  King Edward VIII chose to marry an American divorcee and was forced to abdicate from the throne. This is because conventions of the time meant that the church of England (which the King is the head of) could not accept the King marrying a divorcee. (NB  the Church of England was started by Henry VIII so he could divorce his wife Catherine of Aragon and marry  Anne Boleyn!). World War Two breaks out shortly after the King's coronation and history tells us he became a much loved monarch through the war.

I thought the acting, cinematography, script and music all brilliant.  Five Stars!

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