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originally uploaded by randzig.

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Oh and I guess I don’t need to raise awareness about the movie anymore since it won Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Ensemble

Colin Firth has won Best Actor at the Golden Globes for his role as King George VI.  So now that its official that its a good movie I want to encourage everyone to see the movie to learn more about what it means to have a stutter/how it affects an individual and those close to them.  What would it be like to be presented with all the power and fame that comes along with being a king but not want a bit of it because you can’t speak fluently?  Go see the movie.  Not only does it star Colin Firth and that crazy witch from Harry Potter but the movie was up for 7 Golden Globes.  So chances are you’ll like the movie and get an introduction to something 55 million people live with world wide.  I don’t think I’ll get a better chance to spread awareness on an issue like this.

Morée and I saw the movie and it motivated me enough to come up with some thoughts that I’ll be posting soon.  But immediately I have these thoughts/points about the film that will help guide/inform you about the subject.

-The films writer was/is a stutterer.  I say “was/is” because he is not cured however he has learned to effectively manage his stammer.

-Colin Firths sister is a speech pathologist and he has played a stammerer previously two times.

-The stutter Colin Firth displays to me is not very accurate however he has stated in multiple interviews they had to actually limit the severity of the stutter for the length of the movie.  As he states in the movie “Timing isn’t my strong point”.  I’m guessing the actual Kings stutter was worse and involved more repetitive sounds that are typically displayed via Waterboy or whatever reference you have.

-Its a true story.  The reason you didn’t know about it is because the Queen forbid the writer to make the movie until she was dead.  She lived a long time and didn’t talk about it.

-Why would you go see a movie about a guy with a stutter?  The story is fascinating because his brother was set to be King but abdicated the crown to marry his mistress.  You might think relinquishing the crown for love would be a better plot…but the movie stays clear of displaying an affair that way and shows the strength, bravery, endurance that Bertie had to display to take on his duty as King.

-Before this time in history Kings were mostly for pomp and circumstance.  Really they just had to look good.  They didn’t need to give speeches as there wasn’t radio before this time.  And only a few years later they could have edited the speech for tv.  Giving the famous war time speech was such a point of conflict because it had to be done live.

-The diaries of the Kings speech therapist were found a couple weeks before filming began and helped in defining the relationship between the King and the speech therapist.  Which is the best part of the movie.

-Perhaps most importantly…The film does a good job at relaying the fact that there is no cure.  Thats an important point because people like things all fixed up and resolved…however thats not the case as illustrated in the movie.

-Here is the actual speech the movie focuses on.