Everyone fears public speaking, but imagine being The King of England and having a crippling stammer. “The King’s Speech” shows the incredible true story of King George VI (Colin Firth) who had a severe stammer and stood up and spoke to his nation on the eve of World War II.

“The King’s Speech” really focuses on The Duke of York, Albert, who would later become King George VI of England, and his relationship with his eccentric new speech therapist Lionel Logue (Geoffrey Rush), who is a polar opposite of Albert. Albert believes in his own regal power and status, even though he is self-conscious, and Lionel believes in total equality in his domain and refuses to call the Duke anything but Bertie.

As their relationship continues, they encounter several problems, but in the end the bond between teacher and student transforms into Albert’s first real friendship. Anchored by this incredibly moving and empowering story, “The King’s Speech” finishes with the viewer feeling amazed with human perseverance.

Colin Firth performs the perfect stammer and portrays Albert’s quick temper and emotional swings. Firth’s performance leaves the viewer speechless and should place him in the running for an Oscar.

Not only is Firth’s performance Oscar-worthy, but the two supporting actors Geoffrey Rush as Logue and Helena Bonham Carter as Bertie’s wife should both be acknowledged as best supporting actor and actress respectively.

The cinematography in this movie is surprising since most people would think that beautiful shots don’t come out of bleak and foggy 1930s London. The backdrop itself is not beautiful, but the portion of the shot that the camera focuses on is different in each seen making it a pleasurable to watch. Most of these shots are wide-angle views the characters on their stoic backdrop, which adds perspective and different angles to the shot.

This film was produced on a minimal budget of 15 million part of which was award money for the script, which is incredible since it’s success has already seen double that money and then some in the first 3 weeks of release just in the U.S.

“The King’s Speech” is an awe-inspiring movie and a definite must-see. The empowering story, great acting, solid score and cinematography put it in serious contention for nominations in this year’s Oscars and for any-one’s top ten list.