It seems necessary that a leader needs to have a good and strong voice to rally his people, yet, for King George VI (played by Colin Firth) he had, what seemed, an incurable stammer. However, this movie starts before Albert, Duke of York, becomes king. He is second in line to the throne, behind his older brother David (English-accented Guy Pearce). So, for the most part, "Bertie" avoided the limelight after he botched a speech at the 1925 Empire Exhibition.
Bertie's wife, Elizabeth (Helen Bontham Carter), encourages him to go to speech therapists, even though, it is suggested that he has received all types of help to no avail. In a last ditch attempt Elizabeth ends up in working class London, asking Lionel Logue (Geoffrey Rush), an Australian out-of-work actor and sometimes speech defects specialist, who comes highly recommended despite his unorthodox methods.
It seems that, many times, whenever I even think of writing an article Bill beats me to it. Unfortunately this is an article that is very saddening and will require much prayer.
"It's been a busy period for the religion of peace. On a daily basis we hear of Islamist terror attacks around the world. These have included the quite recent attack on a Coptic Christian church in Egypt and the assassination of a Pakistani governor.
In Alexandria 21 Egyptian believers were killed and 100 were wounded in a New Year's Eve bomb attack on a worship service. This was in part brought about by Islamic religious leaders making inflammatory remarks about the Coptic Christians a few months earlier. Indeed, it is part of ongoing persecution of Christians in Islamic Egypt, something which the government is doing little to stop, and in many ways seems to be encouraging.
As Mark Durie states, "I deplore the lack of freedom of religion in Egypt, the authorities' apparent unwillingness to protect the indigenous Christian minority and its places of worship, and the lamentable track record of the Egyptian justice system in securing criminal convictions against those who have targeted Christians for attack. I call upon Egypt's leaders to respond to these abuses honestly and with integrity, without making excuses or indulging in denial."
A completely outrageous article appeared last month in The New York Times under wedding/celebrations. It starts with the question 'What happens when love comes at the wrong time?" and expands the story of John Partilla and Carol Anne Riddell as they came to fall in love and then marry. Unfortunately this was at the expense of their spouses and the marriages they left.
At first they were merely platonic friends who shared group dinners and activities together. But as time moved on their rhythm began to sync and both parties struggled to hold their feelings in check until one day they confronted each other. At this engagement they had two options. John Partilla puts it this way "their options were either to act on their feelings and break up their marriages or to deny their feelings and live dishonestly".
While there is no accounting for how difficult the plight of staying with partners they didn't profess to love it is with a heavy heart that I read that they decided upon breaking up their marriages because of an "unconditional and all-encompassing" feeling.
To be honest, this is a great example of what love is not and it is so disappointing to see the New York Times express this article with such grandeur when these two have acted in such an immoral way. It may well be that they begin to live a fulfilling marriage and while I cannot judge them as flawed, I cannot help but think that they have acted very selfishly. They have not taken into consideration the pain of their spouses or the hurt of their partner's spouse. More importantly they have not considered their children into whether they should stay with their previous partner. Instead they have deemed that the feelings that they have for each other are more important than anyone else in their lives.
When I see this I am challenged to be a better man. I know that love is hard and that we are flawed people and, for some, the signals can mix up and they can lust over those whom they cannot have. But real love survives all these obstacles because it includes a commitment to each other through the hard times. There is no perfect partner that one should wait for (or indeed leave their spouse for). God provides us with many, but when we marry that is when the searching stops, period!
The roads are a treacherous place for the young. Even when you take away things like speeding, drinking or dangerous driving the road can still be fatal. Today we have the heartrenching story of Mitchell Brennan who lost control of his car for a split second and he was lost to his family forever. The grief of this mother is moving and one would never want to subject their parents to the pain she is feeling.
Please Note: I am not endorsing any of these movies yet. You will have to wait until I have seen them and reviewed them before you gain my opinion. These are merely the movies that I am anticipating will be some of the stand-outs next year.
10. Priest/The Rite/Red State
I have put these three together because all three concern themselves with Christianity/Catholicism. While they promise to be entertaining they should be approached with caution because of the skewed way they may look at Christ (particularly Red State). Having said that these movies do allow us to view secular perceptions and are worth noting.
9. Cars 2
Expected mid-year this is the sequel to the hugely popular 2006 movie. With a large amount of the cast and crew reappearing as well as a few newbie's to the Cars-universe (Jason Issacs, Thomas Kretschmann and Michael Caine) this movie should be very popular with the kids.
However, this movie starts before Albert, Duke of York, becomes king. He is second in line to the throne, behind his older brother David (English-accented Guy Pearce). So, for the most part, "Bertie" avoided the limelight after he botched a speech at the 1925 Empire Exhibition.