The King's Speech & Cinderella Man - 2 movie reviews

I watched two 'touching the heart' type movies recently. When my son asked me to watch this movie and after I watched it for a few minutes, I thought it might be boring without any type of thrill or turning points! I was wrong...I watched it twice!

The first one is, 'The King's Speech'! The second one is 'Cinderella Man'. Both the stories are based on true stories and happened in the 1920's and 30's. The King's story is based in London (obviously!) and the Cinderella Man, in New Jersey, the USA. Royalty and a worn out boxer's stories, such contrast! The King's Speech won 4 Oscars and Cinderella Man was nominated for 3 Oscars.

Have a look at the trailer of The King's Speech, first and you can have a glimpse of how the story goes:





This is the story of King George VI (the current English Queen's father). When King George V is in his death bed, he wants his second son to take over as King. As we know, the Britishers are sticklers to rules and follow strict discipline. His first son wants to marry an American divorcee, which is not applicable to the British monarchy. More than that, the King is the Head of the Church too and so, has to be with good behaviour! The second son, who suffered from stammering, cannot speak clearly even for a couple of minutes, which was an embarrassment to the royal family. But now, he is the only one, who could sit in the King's throne! He goes through many therapies and in the end his wife finds a speech therapist (an Australian), who hasn't got a proper degree but has got vast experience after treating the World War I shell-shocked patients in Australia. He hasn't got a hi-fi clinic but asks the King (then, the Prince of York) to come home for treatment. Then the treatment begins without revealing the King's identity.

The therapist, Logue treats his patient like an ordinary man and calls him by his first name, Bertie (Albert). It was very difficult for Bertie to digest this treatment but slowly with the help of his wife (she has acted superbly here and looks very beautiful too!), he overcomes the stammering and gives a nice Wartime speech (II World war) with the help of Logue, his therapist. Many touching moments make our eyes wet with tears! The therapist brings out the psychological background for Bertie's problem of stammering. We feel like hitting his brother when he teases Bertie 'b...b....b...Bertie'. We feel sad, watching the pain in Bertie's face when he finds it difficult to speak continuously.

Colin Firth acts as Bertie and has done his job superbly. I remember his movie, 'Mama Mia' (hilarious movie!) and some more. The therapist role is done by Geoffrey Rush, who is also a famous actor (Pirates of the Caribbean, Elizabeth, Shakespeare in Love, etc.). The Queen is played by Helena Bonham Carter (acted in Harry Potter!). I loved her acting. She gives full support to Bertie (the role is of the Queen Mother, who died a few years back).

Do you love serious movies? Then, don't miss this movie! The video shows some interesting scenes about the therapy and I loved every frame of this movie.

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The second movie is 'Cinderella Man'. First, I started watching the movie reluctantly, (phoof...how will I like a movie of a Boxer's story?!). I was wrong. I loved this movie too! Have a glimpse of the trailer:





This movie stars one of my favourite actor, Russell Crowe (Gladiator and Beautiful Mind fame) and actress, Renee Zelweger (Bridget Jones's Diary and Chicago fame). I have watched Russell in some other movies also and he is a very good actor and this movie is another feather in his cap!

The story is based on an ex-prize fighter (boxer), Jim Braddock, who broke down during the 'great depression' - before the World war II started. Nobody had much money or job and he had a family of a wife and three small kids. He was ready to do any menial job to feed his family. It was very sad to watch his home's power connection get disconnected because he couldn't pay the bills, that too, in the severe winter. He was forced to go for 'public relief money', which was equal to begging. Still he keeps on looking for big money in the boxing ring though he had a broken hand and no food to get the stamina. His trainer who was a sincere friend gets his chance to fight and in a final bout with a 2 opponent killer Baer makes Braddock a legend.

His wife never liked her husband fighting in the ring and she often gets upset when he teaches boxing to the children. But Braddock was a good fighter and boxing was the only way he could make good money, so with just will power he was winning most of the fights.

I read somewhere that this Boxing legend's house is still there in New Jersey!

If you have got the guts to watch some boxing violence, then this is a good movie for you!

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