THE MADNESS OF KING GEORGE
A film review by Ben Hoffman
Copyright 1995 Ben Hoffman
Put this one at the top of your list of films. Nigel Hawthorne as the mad King George III is a lesson in how a great actor performs. The many moods, the raving, the sobbing, the regal, the prisoner and the befuddled are all portrayed in Hawthorne's face and gestures to where you forget you are watching a movie. This is *real* acting.
Everything about the film speaks "Class," with an attention to detail in costume, sets, and especially the story and the actors all working together to make this a movie you will not soon forget. Even the music lends beautifully to the enjoyment of the film with the music adapted
It is about the year 1788, some five years after George III has lost the Colonies. For some 30 years as monarch of all he surveyed; as kings go (or went), he was a good king, a family man with a good wife, Queen Charlotte, (Helen Mirren) who bore him fifteen children. Now, he has begun to change, his moods varying rapidly with very odd and unkingly behavior. Doctors are called to find out what has caused this sudden, unpredictable change. But the doctors' prescriptions have no favorable result. Word leaks out as words have a way of doing and pretty soon the whole country is worried about their government.
Behind the scenes, there is his son, the Prince of Wales (Rupert Everett), who would like to see his father declared insane so that the Prince could become regent. Based on the stage play by Alan Bennett, (called "The Madness of George III") , the story of King George is a winner, with fine support from Ian Holm, Amanda Donohoe, Rupert Graves and those already mentioned above.
The "must see" of the film is the extraordinary acting of Hawthorne.
Directed by Nicholas Hytner.
4 bytes 4 Bytes = Absolutely must see. 3 Bytes = Too good to be missed. 2 Bytes = So so. 1 Byte = Save your money.
Ben Hoffman
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