I really enjoyed the movie with Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush "The King's Speech" (2010). I watched "The Real King's Speech" (2011) hoping to get more content and layers of understanding about the stammering King George VI and his Australian speech therapist Lionel Logue beyond the biopic film.
While this documentary doesn't quite add more understanding of this fascinating and unusual relationship beyond the film, it does interview other of Lionel Logue's former patients and presents archival footage and audio clips from King George VI's radio messages before, during and after WWII.
It's extraordinary seeing the other patients Lionel Logue had, who with speech impediments of their own, watch the footage of King George VI giving a speech addressing a crowd, before and after edit. The former patients watch with understanding and awe, and cheer King George VI on from his difficulty of pronouncing the "w" consonant. They also talk of their debt to Lionel Logue, which was itself heartwarming. I was amused by one man who said he'd almost rather talk with his stutter than talk in the theatrical way Lionel Logue coached (which smoothed the stutter but sounded ridiculous to him), and this is what he did throughout his interviews.
"The Real King's Speech" doesn't have the narrative strength or complete effect of "The King's Speech," and I think it should've included more than the basics. But still, there is plenty of detail here and there you may appreciate, and watching the Lionel's former clients was a gift.
While this documentary doesn't quite add more understanding of this fascinating and unusual relationship beyond the film, it does interview other of Lionel Logue's former patients and presents archival footage and audio clips from King George VI's radio messages before, during and after WWII.
It's extraordinary seeing the other patients Lionel Logue had, who with speech impediments of their own, watch the footage of King George VI giving a speech addressing a crowd, before and after edit. The former patients watch with understanding and awe, and cheer King George VI on from his difficulty of pronouncing the "w" consonant. They also talk of their debt to Lionel Logue, which was itself heartwarming. I was amused by one man who said he'd almost rather talk with his stutter than talk in the theatrical way Lionel Logue coached (which smoothed the stutter but sounded ridiculous to him), and this is what he did throughout his interviews.
"The Real King's Speech" doesn't have the narrative strength or complete effect of "The King's Speech," and I think it should've included more than the basics. But still, there is plenty of detail here and there you may appreciate, and watching the Lionel's former clients was a gift.
