A person who considers himself civilized ought to be able to admit when they are wrong.\u00a0 When it comes to reacting to a piece of art (often a strong word in cinema but applicable just the same) it\u2019s difficult to be flat wrong.\u00a0 I had another article all written about the best films of 2010.\u00a0 It was (I flatter myself) a sharply witted entry.\u00a0 But my reaction to the film that took home the Oscar for best picture was just wrong.\u00a0 There\u2019s no other way to slice it.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t \u201cget it\u201d.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
When I saw The King\u2019s Speech<\/em>, I had a very hard time giving a shit.\u00a0 The actors in the film were all talented, and turned in their usual charming performance (especially Colin Firth who is always fun to watch no matter what craptastic adaptation of a musical he happens to be in).\u00a0 The story itself, removed from the striding history that engulfs the characters is interesting in its own right; but I was unmoved.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n I, as an arrogant American, don\u2019t give a shit who\u2019s king of what.\u00a0 I barely respect my own president.\u00a0 I mean, after all, he works for me.\u00a0 So what the hell did I care if some rich asshole in the country Winston Churchill brought through WW2 had a stutter?\u00a0 It\u2019s really an indictment of the people listening to the stutterer that they can\u2019t let go of the speaker\u2019s difficulties talking and focus what is being said.\u00a0 Even noticing a stutter is at worst in poor taste and at best an irrelevancy.\u00a0 And if you are king, you are king whether you stutter or not.\u00a0 And I also thought had this man not been born to his specific parents; nobody would give a rat\u2019s ass.\u00a0 All these thoughts kept me from simply enjoying the story which was not without its charm.\u00a0 But, that\u2019s on me.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t get it.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The thing is; the who, what, where, and why of this film don\u2019t really matter.\u00a0 That Colin Firth is the King of England is not important.\u00a0 What is important is that the film is history\u2019s window.\u00a0 The filmmakers had diaries, correspondence, even birthday gifts exchanged between the teacher and his pupil.\u00a0 This could have been a story about any two people.\u00a0 This movie is literally like stepping through a photograph to another era.\u00a0 It is looking through drawings on the cave wall and seeing the artist.\u00a0 The story is of a teacher and a student and friends; and it\u2019s real.\u00a0 It\u2019s a real window on two real people from an age (even though relatively recent) that haunts us.\u00a0 It was an age where heroes and villains were larger than life and strode the earth like titans.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n So yes, I missed the point.\u00a0 I get it now.\u00a0 While it\u2019s not the best film of 2010; The King\u2019s Speech<\/em> is special.\u00a0 The first time I saw it; I was unmoved.\u00a0 Now, I can barely watch it without being moved.\u00a0 To reach through a photograph and touch history is an achievement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A person who considers himself civilized ought to be able to admit when they are wrong.\u00a0 When it comes to reacting to a piece of art (often a strong word in cinema but applicable just the same) it\u2019s difficult to … Continue reading