Thursday, January 20, 2011

History Lessons, Part 1

Richard and I went to the movies this week.  We saw The King's Speech.  It is an incredible movie that touched me on a few emotional levels.

As you all know, I have been witnessing my Emmett's struggle with speech his entire life.  Watching King George grapple with his own struggles really hit home and the way Colin Firth conveys the frustration and hopelessness of having your body and voice betray you is something I see with my own boy.  It brought tears to my eyes more than once in the theatre. I went right along with the actors as they took me on this emotional roller coaster ride.  It was exhilarating.  Don't even get me started on the sets and costumes. I will go girly on you for a moment and just gush about how dreamy Colin Firth is as the King.  He.  Is. Dreamy.   Sigh. Swoon.. I highly recommend this movie to everyone I talk to, and now you, my readers as well.


I particularly enjoyed the portrayal of King George's marriage to Elizabeth.  It is not very often you see "good" movie marriages--they are usually just not noticed if they are good, or they are the focus of the movie as they disintegrate in front of the viewers in a spectacular fashion.  In this movie Elizabeth goes to bat for her husband, advocating for him but doing it in a way that doesn't seem patronizing or condescending.  She is steadfastly supportive of him and only wants him to be the best person he can be.  In return she is given the same respect and obvious love and affection.  The stuff rock solid relationships are made of.

Richard said it is very much a man's movie, but he couldn't exactly say why.  It is definitely not a "guy's movie" in the traditional sense.  There were no car chases, buxom women or explosions of any sort.

I am going to end this post here, and continue my discussion of my immersion in WW II European History later, when I discuss the book How the Girl Guides Won the War, which deserves it's own story.

Stay tuned!!

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