December is the beginning of Award Season. While the movies that are released from January to November snag their share of nominations for movie awards, the bulk of the nominations are from movies that are released in December. Some of these movies are seen and known by the general public while others have people scratching their heads saying, “I never heard of that movie,” and are seldom seen, Colin Firth knows something about the latter. Last year he was nominated many times over for his performance in “A Single Man”, but it was hardly a box office hit. This year, Colin Firth is again generating a lot of buzz for his portrayal of King George VI in “The King’s Speech”.
The movie is a historical drama about the King’s personal battle with a stammer he had practically all his life. For those who are unfamiliar with English history, King George VI was the father of the current Queen, Elizabeth. The movie opens at the close of the British Empire Exhibition at Wembley, the King was The Duke of York at that time and his father, King George V was still alive. The Duke gave a closing speech at that time which was excruciating both for himself and for those in attendance. His wife (Helena Bonham Carter) seeks out unorthodox speech therapist, Lionel Logue (Geoffrey Rush). Together Lionel and the King work to resolve the speech impediment.
