On we merrily roll through the fun history of Best Picture winners. This month, it is time to ring the controversy bell again with a film that I liked quite a lot but would fight loudly until I lost my voice against it being the best film of 2010. I am referring to The King’s Speech (dir. Tom Hooper).
The King’s Speech is the story of King George VI (Colin Firth), who famously had a stammer. The film takes us through the actions preceding his brother (Guy Pearce) abdicating the throne to be allowed to marry his mistress, Wallis Simpson (Eve Best). The trouble with George VI ascending to that level comes from his stammer, made more problematic due to the timing of the film – as World War 2 was breaking out. His wife (Helena Bonham Carter) enlists the help of a speech pathologist (Geoffrey Rush) to get George VI competent and confident enough to address the nation and keep them calm and inspired during one of history’s most challenging times.
The three leads (Firth, Carter, and Rush) are all wonderful in their roles. The story is interesting and holds your attention throughout. The stakes (while slightly elevated through…let us say convenient alterations to the historical timeline) keep the tension high enough that the plot, which asks us to pity the freaking King of England, makes us want to keep watching. It is beautifully written and comes to a very satisfying conclusion. At the end of the day, however, it is a formulaic biopic that reveals nothing incredibly interesting that a ten-minute Wikipedia article cannot tell you.
So why would I say this is a good film and waste your and my time writing about it? Mostly, I wanted to call out the films I would have ranked ahead of it on my ballot. My reference to ranking is intentional as this was only the second year the Academy Awards used ranked-choice voting for Best Picture. As I struggled through watching the first presidential debate recently, I was reminded of how impactful ranked-choice voting could be. Briefly, how it works is everyone picks their favorite. If no choice has 50% plus 1 vote, the film with the least votes gets removed from the mix and anyone who voted for it has their second choice elevated to the top spot on their ballot. This process repeats until one film has a majority. It ensures more people get something they like to win, even if it is not their favorite. I explain this process to say I think this may have cost a better film the Oscar.
The King’s Speech was well-reviewed and well-liked at the time, but I do not recall many (if any) people being blown away by it. I will forever claim that the actual best film of the year, which was nominated for Best Picture, was Inception (my #9 film of all time). I would also happily rank fellow nominees The Social Network (#226) and True Grit (#263) ahead of Hooper’s film. Inception, to me, is a historically significant film in that it changed the paradigm of how films are made and what can be accomplished in cinema. A smaller population of voters likely agreed with that statement and ranked it first on their ballots. However, enough other people may have had The King’s Speech ranked highly but behind some other polarizing films of the year (mostly Black Swan or 127 Hours, I would think).
In the grand scheme of things, it does not matter much. I can still enjoy The King’s Speech for what it is to me – a good movie. It is not a great movie. It is not the best movie of the year. It is good. I just wish this were a year where the Academy Awards chose something great.
FUN FACT – The King’s Speech is rather famous for receiving an R rating, despite only having one objectionable scene. Logue encourages George VI to unleash a tirade of swear words to prove to him that he can speech without a stammer under certain circumstances. Many critics lambasted the ratings agency for not understanding the point of this scene – igniting a debate about whether all swear words are created equal.
Just Watch says The King’s Speech is currently streaming on Max and Starz. It is also available for rent/purchase on most platforms including Apple TV, YouTube, and Amazon Prime.
As a reminder, here is the original post that details the scores and weighting system.