The King's Speech

I've thought a lot about this movie since I first blogged about it after seeing it over the holidays. As a storyteller, I appreciated the filmmaker's storytelling elegance and prowess.

Now, the film stands to win as many as 12 Oscars, and I am still thinking about the film and its incredible humanity. My favorite scene came early in the movie when the Bertie's daughters beg him to tell them a story. He delivers a touching tale of self-acceptance, a story within the story.

There is something to learn, as well, in the Lionel Logues of the world. It was a gift that he learned how to help people in a trial-by-fire kind of way. What he had going for him -- a quality that sometimes gets drilled out of those with more formal training -- is cultivating that sense of equality in a caregiver-client relationship.

In the case of a speech therapist and a stutterer, it seems counter-intuitive to not do that. But when you think about all caregiver-client relationships, that equality applies.

Trained expertise does not subjugate any portion of another's humanity.