Lo traduco e aggiungo roba appena emergo | I watched it the night before the Oscars and knew it was star material. The morning after I tried to do what I did last year, that is to watch the ceremony "live" by downloading it, but the files were too few and too slow. Oh well. The cast of the movie is astonishing: - Mr. Darcy as the King - Bellatrix Lestrange as his wife, the Queen Mum - Captain Barbossa as his speech therapist - Elizabeth Bennet as Barbossa's wife - Albus Dumbledore as the King's father George V - Marcus Tullius Cicero as the Theatre Director - The Scarlet Pimpernel as Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin - Wormtail as Winston Churchill. (This latter casting gives me the chance to rant about my pet peeve. Though maybe Spall was the least effective of the cast - his Churchill relied too much on gruff grimaces and less on actual resemblance - he proved once again, as though any proof was needed, that he's a great dramatic actor. My thanks to Harry Potter 3, therefore, which turned Wormtail from a tragic character into a clownesque parody who looked like an idiot, lived like an idiot and died - if that's his death in HP7 - like an idiot. Nice.) I enjoyed this movie on several levels. Acting, historical reconstruction, dialogues, it goes without saying - I don't think I've ever enjoyed Bonham-Carter so much. It sheds more light on one of the most solid, brave and interesting royal couples ever. They were right there on the frontlines during WWII, comforting the bereaved Londoners. When he died aged only 52 she went on to become Elizabeth II's beloved Queen Mother. Despite her ever-cheerful, pastel-clothed countenance, she mourned him so much that the Oscar-winning script writer waited all these years after her death to make this movie, out of respect. Watching Bonham-Carter (Oscar-nominated) I coud believe she embodied all of this. Beyond history, this movie touched me personally as the story of someone who has to overcome lifelong fears so that he'll be able to do something important for his fellow human beings: delivering a comforting speech in their darkest hour. He succeeds through his inner strength, but also because he is never alone (whether he wants it or not!): his therapist and his wife never let him down. I wish I could draw inspiration from this, not only regarding my inner strength but also the fact that I cannot be so alone as I feel lately. Another theme that struck a chord is that of power. I've worked long on this theme in my writing. I think I've said already that I don't believe Lord Acton's truism: "Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely." We all have to obey or exert power in our lives: as parents or children, as students or teachers, as employers or employees. We can't dismiss or refuse power as a mere agent of corruption. We have to understand it and learn to use it for the best. I have noticed that most of the quarrels we sometimes find ourselves involved in are nothing but struggles for power. With all the ensuing fear, rage and hatred. Understanding the mechanisms can help us, I think, defuse such situations. Bertie, the deservedly awarded Colin Firth, does not want power. He receives it due to his brother's notorious abdication to marry Wallis Simpson. At that point, instead of hiding in a hole and let his bureaucrats and his family rule the British Empire, as would have been fully in his power, he takes center stage for one of the most heroic and less-known feats of human history. Ultimately, it's his power over himself that I find inspiring. |