Nazi sympathies soft-pedaled in The King's Speech?

http://oscars.movies.yahoo.com/news/1344-questions-of-truth-circle-oscar-favorites-ap

Questions of truth circle Oscar favorites (AP) Wednesday, January 26, 2011
11:12:47 AM PT, *Associated Press*

  Associated Press

> The Oscar race for best picture is widely expected to come down to two
> films, both of which are dogged by questions of veracity.
>
> Neither "The King's Speech," which led with 12 nominations, nor "The Social
> Network," which reaped eight nominations, have been held back by any
> discussion over their truthfulness. They are two of the most acclaimed
> movies of the year and each has performed solidly at the box office.
>
> But the days leading up to the Feb. 27 Academy Awards will likely include
> much parsing over the films' debatable accuracy.
>
> Myth-making, of course, has long been Hollywood's trade. But "The King's
> Speech" — for sanitizing a sensitive history — and "The Social Network" —
> for dramatizing a freshly contemporary tale — offer interesting cases.
>
> Questions over "The King's Speech" have been more muted, but sounded
> loudest in England, where the country's royal history is better known. The
> film stars Colin Firth as the stammering King George VI, who reluctantly
> took the throne after his brother, Edward VIII (Guy Pearce) abdicated.
>
> To be sure, "The King's Speech" is primarily a story of personal triumph
> and friendship (Geoffrey Rush plays George's speech therapist). But its
> backdrop is World War II and the pacifist times leading up to it.
>
> Some have criticized the film for not representing Edward as the Nazi
> sympathizer he was. Winston Churchill (a briefly seen Timothy Spall) was
> also sometimes blinded by his friendship to Edward. George, too, at one time
> supported Neville Chamberlain's policy of appeasement toward Hitler.
>
> In a column Monday for Slate.com, Christopher Hitchens wrote that the movie
> "perpetrates a gross falsification of history," applying "Vaseline" to the
> lens to hide the more sordid truths of the royals and appeasement.
>
> "This is not a detail but a major desecration of the historical record —
> now apparently gliding unopposed toward a baptism by Oscar," wrote Hitchens.
>
> The New Republic judged the film "inaccurate, entirely misleading, and, in
> its own small way, morally dubious."
>
> This debate has yet to dominate the conversation on "The King's Speech,"
> which has typically focused on Firth's fine performance. Even if the film's
> politics are lacking, Firth's George VI seems to be true to his personality.
>
> "The Social Network," on the other hand, has already gone through much
> hand-wringing over its accuracy since being released in October. At its
> debut, screenwriter Aaron Sorkin declared, "The movie's true," while
> Facebook labeled it "fiction."
>
> Sorkin did not have the cooperation of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg
> (played by Jesse Eisenberg) in penning his script, and his depiction is
> critical. Zuckerberg is shown as a brilliant visionary, but also a
> power-hungry, back-stabbing hacker motivated by social acceptance and girls.
>
> Director David Fincher has said accuracy is important, but that the stakes
> are less for "The Social Network" than they were for his 2007 film,
> "Zodiac," about the San Francisco serial killer.
>
> "When you're talking about a movie like 'Zodiac,' you're talking about
> people who are shot and stabbed to death," Fincher said. "And when you're
> talking about this movie, you're talking about people who had their feelings
> hurt. It's a sliding scale."
>
> Zuckerberg has pointed holes in the film, claiming that it got his
> personality and motivation completely wrong. He has been with the same
> girlfriend since before starting Facebook.
>
> "It's pretty interesting to see what parts they got right and what parts
> they got wrong," Zuckerberg said on "60 Minutes."
>
> "They got every single T-shirt that they had the Mark Zuckerberg character
> wearing right. I think I actually own those T-shirts."
>
> Even Sorkin seemed to come around to Zuckerberg. Accepting his Golden Globe
> for best screenplay, he delivered a message to the Facebook CEO, who has
> since donated $100 million to the Newark, N.J., school system.
>
> "I wanted to say to Mark Zuckerberg tonight, 'If you're watching, Rooney
> Mara's character makes a prediction at the beginning of the movie,'" said
> Sorkin. "'She was wrong. You turned out to be a great entrepreneur, a
> visionary and an incredible altruist.'"
>
> For "The Social Network," the debate seems to be over, with both sides
> waving white flags. For "The King's Speech," now thrust emphatically into
> the role of Oscar front-runner, it may be just getting started.
>
> The best picture category includes two other real life tales: Danny Boyle's
> trapped mountain climber drama "127 Hours" and David O. Russell's boxing
> saga "The Fighter." Both have a more direct relationship with the source
> material, and conclude by showing the real McCoy: Micky and Dicky Ward in
> "The Fighter"; Aron Ralston in "127 Hours."
>
> Academy Awards history abounds with based-on-a-true-story winners, made
> with various degrees of authenticity: "A Beautiful Mind," "Shakespeare in
> Love," "Titanic," "Schindler's List," "Amadeus," "Gandhi," "Patton,"
> "Lawrence of Arabia," "The Life of Emile Zola," among others.
>
> For "The Social Network" and "The King's Speech," it may well come down to
> not what movie is more accurate, but which is the better film.
>


Johne Cook
| http://raygunrevival.com | http://authorculture.blogspot.com |

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