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Film

Spooltide Cheer

The end-of-year movie rush is on, and it’s rich in films of Jewish interest, including the Coen Brothers’ latest, True Grit. Tablet Magazine offers its top 10.

By Allison Hoffman|December 22, 2010 7:00 AM|11comments
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The King’s Speech

It’s true that King George VI—the former Prince Albert, familiarly known as Bertie, who ascended to the British throne in 1936 after his older brother, Edward, abdicated to marry the American divorcee Wallis Simpson—had a debilitating stammer, which he lost with training from an Australian speech therapist who got his start helping shell-shocked World War I vets. But the film version of that story developed from one stuttering Jewish boy’s fascination with how other people managed to overcome the handicap. That boy became The King’s Speech‘s screenwriter, David Seidler. Seidler fled London with his parents during the Blitz only to have a ship in his convoy sunk by a German U-boat, which prompted persistent dreams about death camps and gas chambers, anxieties that manifested themselves in daylight hours in his speech. “I’m pretty sure I left England speaking normally,” Seidler, who recovered, said in a recent interview. “But I arrived in America as a stutterer.”

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Allison Hoffman is a senior writer for Tablet Magazine. Her Twitter feed is @allisont_dc.
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  • June Getraer

    Each and everyone of these films is tempting to view. The fact that they all have a Jewish connection gives me an added perspective,

    Thank you!

  • http://ianthal.blogspot.com Ian Thal

    Wow, “Oy Vey My Son is Gay!” is really several years out of date. Reform Judaism has supported same-sex marriage for several years now, and Conservative and Reconstructionist Judaism have left it to individual rabbis and congregations to go with their conscience.

    The screenwriter could have at least bothered to consult wikipedia.

  • Moshe Pesach Geller

    Just as there is no suh thing as half-pregnant, there is no such thing as a half-Jew. Either you are or you aren’t. And no amount of post-modern America relativism will alter a 4,000 year reality. This nonesense is just a blit that will be long forgotten after the decline and fall of the American Empire is complete.

  • Nina

    A very weak idea for a year-end review of movies. Please don’t do this again; it’s not worth it.

  • chloe

    Allison,
    You have proved yourself to strengthen my longstanding belief that journalists are the degenerates of society. To partake in great joy in others’ downfalls – and be proud of it – that must take great talent.

    Wipe that fake smile off your face and show your true colors – at least do the job with honesty!

  • chloe

    the above was NOT ME.

    Having seen Swan & KINg, i’ll take real royalty. In a class with Le Balon Rouge!

  • chloe

    no, that was me – and it was a message, not a response to the film.

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Spooltide Cheer

The end-of-year movie rush is on, and it’s rich in films of Jewish interest, including the Coen Brothers’ latest, True Grit. Tablet Magazine offers its top 10.