My experience in finding a good movie has been that if there is a story wherein my own story is relatable, my reaction will be strong. The story must speak to an event or a time period in my life and it must be based at least fractionally on reality. When those criteria are met, my reflex is to either completely embrace the story or completely reject the story (usually due to bad acting or bad story to begin with).
The King’s Speech relies on a well known aspect of Prince Albert, Duke of York (Bertie): his terrible, debilitating stammer and a slight impediment. By his own admission, an affliction that plagued him since age 5, and one which followed him, as King George VI, to the throne. The impediment seemed most evident when the letter ‘r’ was attempted. His stammer seemed to occur at the beginning of words, as is a typical presentation of a stammer.
For anyone unfortunate to have or have had a stammer, it is acquired through environmental factors as opposed to being born with one. As Rush states in the character of Logue, “I assure you that children do not begin speaking with a stammer.” For the King, his stammer began as a result of abuse, both physical and emotional that he suffered at the hands of his nanny. Born left-handed, his father, King George V, encouraged Bertie to use his right hand nonetheless and he had genu valgum, which required years of painful metal braces to correct.
After acquisition, the stammer reduces self-confidence of the afflicted, which, in turn, provides reinforcement of the stammer. Eventually, the stammer is learned along with nuances of native language one learns with age and practice. The stammer embeds itself into the mind, constantly eroding certainty in oneself. Only with devoted application, can a stammer be managed.
Despite his life of incredible privilege and station, King George VI lived in at least partial fear of speaking, even to his wife. With his stammer, he was underestimated, questioned, patronized even into the last days of his life.
In The King’s Speech, Lionel Logue provides the King with tools to overcome the worst part of his stammer, to the benefit of the entire British Empire in the opening hours of what would become World War II. At its heart, the story is an examination of a romantic hero dealing with and overcoming adversity with the love and support of a close friend and adoring wife. While dramatic license is taken in certain areas to accommodate the timeframe of a film, most of the story behind the movie is based on the journals and diaries of Lionel Logue himself, whose modesty reflects a typical British commoner in service to his Sovereign.
My stammer developed shortly after being thrust into a family that I didn’t know when the second husband of my mother became the only parent of his two children upon the death of their mother. At first, it was an interesting novelty to have an instant family in such short order. However, my new ‘sister’ had a talent of torturing me in ways that went far beyond the normal definition of sibling rivalry. My new ‘brother’ and I were forced to share my bedroom. He was cruel to me and held nothing in reserve whilst taking every opportunity to berate me as a person.
I felt betrayed by myself when I began to exhibit a stammer. At first it was only when confronted with verbal abuse by one or the other, or indeed, their father. It just felt like I wasn’t smart enough since they were 4 (her) and 9 (him) years older than me, and I couldn’t get the words out. I don’t remember a time when I didn’t have a problem with words that use the letter ‘r’. Even my name is difficult for me to articulate without using a technique that I was taught whereby a 27th letter exists, similar in sound to the letter ‘r’, but just different enough to allow me to use it in place of the evil ‘r’ in words such as my own name.
Before my stammer became manageable, it was the source of endless commentary by my step-siblings. Not even school bullies were as cruel as what I experienced at home. My classmates gave me the nickname ‘ribbit’, after I vehemently protested against a frog dissection slideshow; I was trying to say ‘right, but’ as the beginning part of my argument, but instead of moving forward with what I wanted to say, it just kept repeating. Eventually, some super-genius made a connection with the subject of the class and a nickname is born. The name became a term of endearment and I wore it proudly, for it was fairly innocuous compared to what I faced at home.
One of the first lessons I learned during my therapy in school, was that I wasn’t the only person who had a stammer, which is when I first became acquainted with the story of King George VI. I knew he shouted vowels out of an open window as part of his therapy. It became a part of my own therapy, along with learning violin. Eventually, the worst parts of it went away (right around the same time my step-siblings decided that I was too difficult to get along with and fled to their grandmother’s house to live). However, it’s still there and I get held up by it now and again.
The King’s Speech is very similar to my own. I’ll admit to being a sucker for a historical heroic drama. This movie was superbly masterful in its telling of the story of how King George VI overcame his stammer enough to provide leadership and morale to his country and empire in a fight for its life.
Do yourself a favor and apply the rental fee to the purchase price. It’s well worth it.
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