Tonight, my son and I had a rare but enjoyable night out with his grandparents for dinner and a movie. Usually, Josh goes once a week with his grandpa, but when my Mom and I found out that The King's Speech was playing, we knew that we would have to join the guys for this one. Before the movie ended, I had already begun to write this post in my head and was anxious to get this out to all of you. Really, if you don't go to any other movie this season, you MUST see this one. It is outstanding. I won't go into the plot of the film, but I will tell you this. There was a point in the movie at which Lionel - the speech therapist - says to King George VI (or Bertie, as he calls him), "You don't have to be afraid of the things you were afraid of when you were five. You are your own man, Bertie." At these words, I turned to my son, who turned to me at exactly the same moment, and I very briefly patted him on the knee and nodded. Words to live by, my son. I will also take just a brief moment to give notice to the undeniably mischievous humor and the modest visualizations of such a beautiful and historical country.
For me, this movie was about much more than a man who winds up King - his biggest fear of all - only by default and finds himself having to make speeches while simultaneously battling a severe case of stuttering (or "stammering" as they call it). For me, this movie was about the King in all of us - the King that, intended or not, finds himself doing something for which he is physically and emotionally inept. It is also about fear - the fear that once made us a victim and that now calls us cowardly. It may not be a speech impairment or Hitler's armies that keep us at bay, but our fears are just as real and, sometimes, just as terrifying. However, as The King's Speech so perfectly teaches us, it is simply the belief in and the assertion of our own voice that conquers all.
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