All hail The King(‘s Speech). With the BAFTA awards having just wrapped in London it has been a royal victory for speech impediment empowerment and speech therapy alike with The King’s Speech triumphing across the board – including a gong for Geoffrey Rush.
With the film revolving around the relationship between two mature aged men – a mumbling King George VI frustrated by his inhibiting stammer and his (Australian!) speech therapist’s efforts to help him overcome said impediment, one would be forgiven for thinking that this may not be the best plot for a gripping, inspiring and (now) multiple award-winning film. Well, it appears we were indeed mistaken. Having been nominated in 14 categories, The King’s Speech won in seven of them including Best Film, Best British Film, Best Actor (Colin Firth), Best Supporting Actor (Geoffrey Rush) and Best Supporting Actress (Helena Bonham Carter).
According to the film’s winning writer David Seidler, it was the simple subject matter about “two men in a room” that contributed to the films remarkable global success.
Other notable and well-deserving BAFTA winners were the magical Harry Potter films for Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema, Christopher Nolan’s Inception for achievement in Sound and Visual Effects, Toy Story 3 for Animated Feature, and Tim Burton’s gorgeous visual treat Alice in Wonderland receiving the awards for both Costume Design and Make up and Hair.
Films about magical worlds, surreal dreams, talking toys, wizardry spells, mad hatters, Facebook and speech impediments won awards. We wonder what that says about the current state of filmmaking…
Written by Jess Glass
