The King's Speech & The Fighter

The King's Speech is a superb movie: well written, well acted. Tonight I went to see The Fighter. It was well acted and believable but hard. There was a lot of violence and harshness in The Fighter. In The King's Speech, the emotional brutality was equal but mitigated by elegance and wit.

The stories are roughly the same: hero overcoming obstacles (Bertie had the speech impediment, Micky poor management and training), dysfunctional family, a crucial/defining moment (Bertie the speech, Micky the title fight), an older brother failing at his chance (David falling in love with Wallis Simpson, Dicky's addiction to crack), both felt they had failed people's expectations, both protagonists were spurned on by their wife/girlfriend, the conflict was ultimately internal (Bertie not being defined by his stutter, Micky letting go of his ties to his family). Both movies were based on real people.

Coming out of The Fighter, I felt like I had been roughed up. My mom's words "It sucks to be poor" came to mind. Micky's mom was self-absorbed and greedy. He didn't have education and exposure to alternatives. All the cards were out on the table in Micky's family. There were manipulators and bad guys, but nothing was ever left to innuendo.

Whereas, Bertie had to deal with loneliness and being surrounded by sychophants. One could call it death by protocol reminiscent of the line from The Madness of King George: "I had forgotten how to seem." As long as the lips were curled in a smile, mouths could utter poisonous words. The most brutal scene of the two movies was between brothers Bertie and David. David purposely misunderstood Bertie and attacked him at his most vulnerable point in a jocular tone. And the other scene between Bertie and his father was almost as brutal-- both render the stutterer speechless.

There was no seeming in The Fighter. If a character had a problem with another character, they'd inevitably duke it out. Energy wasn't wasted on wit. Even the girls got into fist fights.

At one level, the movies served as a reminder that the human condition is the same whether one is poor or rich. No socio economic level has a monopoly on dysfunctional families, heavy expectations, true love, internal conflict, or greatness. One needs good friends, common sense and determination.

Overall, I enjoyed The King's Speech far more than The Fighter. Mark Wahlberg and Christian Bale did a fantastic job, but the movie was too violent on too many levels for me. The King's Speech subtlety and elegance made the story more enjoyable and allowed for more humor.