I Don't Care About a King's Speech

When I asked my husband if he wanted to watch the movie "The King's Speech," he replied that he didn't know.  He said he didn't really care about a speech a king gave.  I laughed (just a little) and explained that it wasn't speech as in giving a speech, it was speech as in how he spoke - that he had a speech problem.  After that, he seemed a little more interested and offered to watch the movie with me.

We finally watched "The King's Speech" last night and I've been thinking about it all day.  Even though I had heard some luke-warm reviews from some friends about the movie, I loved it.  I don't know if it was the historical time period (the 30's and 40's always intrigues me), the English accents and wit, or the actors, but I found the whole thing well produced and entertaining.

In the movie, the "doctor," who is not really a doctor and much more of a teacher, works with King George VI to remedy his stammer when speaking.  I liked a lot of his methods and, having just taken a Reading Diagnosis and Remediation course, wondered if any of it would work with students and reading aloud.  For example, the "doctor" asked George VI to read aloud from Hamlet.  When he cannot read aloud without stammering, the "doctor" put headphones on George VI.  Before George VI begins to read again, the "doctor" turns up classical music so that all the future king can hear is the music, and none of his own reading.  When he reads this second time, he does it perfectly.  Maybe this same technique could be used with some of my own students?  Maybe several of the techniques could... though not the swearing one.  That might actually cause more problems.

Anyway, I highly recommend this movie.  Colin Firth definitely earned all of the accolades he received for the role.

P.S. For all of you Harry Potter fans out there, Timothy Spall (Peter Pettigrew/Wormtail), Helena Bonham Carter (Bellatrix Lestrange) and Michael Gambon (Professor Dumbledore) are all in this movie!