Devlin Lynden

The kings speech

The King’s Speech is based on the diaries and notes of a speech therapist who helped King George VI overcome speech difficulties after his ascent to the throne. It outlines the ways in which the reluctant king was able to transform his speech difficulties and interact with his subjects without difficulty. King George V is hard on his sons, but especially his younger son. He is shy and develops a stutter that prevents him from speaking out in public. Albert, or ‘Bertie’ was never meant to be king, but his brother Edward abdicate the throne for love. Bertie becomes king right around the time of the second world war meaning he has to do a lot of public speaking. After trying conventional speech therapists his wife brings him to Lionel Logue, a self-taught speech therapist from Australia. After a lot of work and a lot of fighting back from Bertie, Logue finally gets through to Bertie. According to the journals, Logue is untrained and got his start by helping Australian soldiers returning after the war. Part of Logue’s appeal is that he is un administered by the throne and by George’s titles. He is able to give him the confidence he needs to speak without direction or coaching, first among his circle of friends and later among royalty. It climax’s in his address to the public in which he is able to deliver a speech without any major issue.

Bertie struggles with specking infront of lots of people. I Just like many others find if difficult to speak infront of audiences. For me i actually find this pretty interesting because i have preformed piano, trumpet and saxophone in front of audiences of over 1000 people in bands and solo many times in the past. Ive even introduced bands in front of many more people with not problems and no nerves at all. Yet when i have to stand up in front of a small audience and present a piece of writing, particularly if it is a piece of writing that i have written my self (presumably because i am nervous of people judging my own work more) i find it incredibly hard and scary to talk calmly and smoothly. My anxiety toward public speaking is far less prominent to some other people but it is still there. One day i hope that i can’t talk in front of audiences with no nerves and no fears and speak confidently and smoothly.

So many people i know have huge struggles with self confidence and public speaking. When i was younger i was very close friends with a boy who suffered with stuttering. I remember when he had to go up and read a recount of a speech, or when he was selected to do class reading how painfully slow it was to listen to him. When we first met he had a hard time talking to me but as we grew to know one another his speech became more fluent to the point where he cause talk almost perfectly to me. Talking to him in his later life he has told me about how badly the teasing effected him at school and how daunting it was for him to speak to people. When he told me this it really opened my eye to the number or people around the world that suffer from stuttering and anxiety issues. Perhaps this movie could show them that if they don’t give up they can succeed in public speaking and not have to worry about it.

I loved this movie so much. It is one of, if not my favourite movies i have ever seen, it is interesting, informative, dramatic, funny, well directed, has interesting cinematography and is so easy to connect with. Although it may sounds a bit dull i recommend anyone who hasn’t seen it to watch it.