A duet of two soloists

One soloist: a rich journalist, poor of words. 

Another soloist: a poor homeless, rich of music. 

A duet: two soloists, poor of friendship, rich of talent.

One attends to the title of ‘exceptional journalist’. 

Another doesn’t attend to titles,because he doesn’t have any.

One and Another met at a square in sunny LA. The city was once sunny for One, a long, long time ago. For Another, it is only sunny, when there’s Beethoven for companion and a violin, of course.

Violin gave One an idea, that surprised Another. That idea was Cello.

Cello united One to Another. Cello gave One a text. To Another, better music.

A text and music gave One respect for his work. A text and music gave Another a better home, and classes with Cello.

But respect, home, a text, an instrument, Cello, Violin or Beethoven didn’t give One and Another the best thing they could have.

The best thing they could have was friendship.

And respect, home, a text, an instrument, Cello, Violin or Beethoven didn’t give them any friends.

One gave Another a friend. Another gave One a friend.

If there weren’t Beethoven, there wouldn’t be Violin, and a meeting. If there weren’t Cello, there wouldn’t be a text, and music. If there weren’t this text and music, there wouldn’t be respect and a home.

If there weren’t two soloists, there wouldn’t be a duet.

But, most important, if there wasn’t One, there wouldn’t be Another. 

A British stutter and an Australian friend

Lionel Logue - "You still stammered on the 'W'." 

King George VI - "Well I had to throw in a few so they knew it was me."

- The King's Speech, 2010 

The movie “The King’s Speech”, directed by Tom Hooper from the year of 2010, tells the story of King George VI, Queen Elizabeth’s father, who stutters while speaking.

Prince Albert (the real name of the King, played by Colin Firth) is the younger son of King George V. The family often needs to speak on the radio, and Albert’s stuttering becomes a problem. He meets every good doctor in England, and gives up, believing there’s no cure to his speech issues.

One day, his wife, the Duchess of York (Helena Bonham Carter) gets him an appointment with Doctor Lionel Logue (Geoffrey Rush), an Australian Shakespeare fan. At first, Albert is reluctant to accept Lionel’s methods, but, with time, they become good friends.

When King George V dies, Albert’s brother, David (Guy Pearce), takes over as king, but he soon abdicates the throne to marry an American divorcee, consequently, Albert becomes King George VI.

In September 1939, Britain declares war on Germany, and King George VI needs to make a speech) to the Nation. After preparing and training for it, he finally overcomes his stutter.

This movie was nominated for 12 Academy Awards, among them, Best Motion Picture, Best Actor, Supporting Actress and Supporting Actor.

I personally love this movie, for all the amazing performances (Colin Firth’s stuttering was incredibly realistic) and the actual plot, which is an interesting drama, full of light comedy (most of it made by the talented Geoffrey Rush), about a man, that overcomes his disabilities, for himself, and his country.

Now Boarding to Krakozhia

The movie “The Terminal”, directed by Steven Spielberg from the year of 2004, tells the story of a man, who cannot leave a terminal at the JFK International Airport, due to a revolution in his country and his entrance into the US being denied. Viktor Navorski (Tom Hanks) is a man from a small country in Eastern Europe, called Krakozhia. He flies to New York City, to fulfill a promise he made to his father, before he dies. But, while in the air, there was a revolution in his country and a military coup. Now, he belongs to “nowhere”, and needs to stay in the International Area, until the United States government recognizes the “New Krakozhia” as a country, in order to grant Viktor a visa.

At first, Viktor doesn’t understand what is happening, because he doesn’t speak English and can’t understand what the security director (Stanley Tucci) - or anyone – says. For days, he sleeps in a bed made of chairs, cleans himself in the bathroom sink, and eats leftovers.

When a catering guy sees his situation, he offers Viktor food, in return for a favor: help him to win the immigration officer’s (Zoe Saldana) heart. The Krakozhian guy accepts the deal, and every day talks to the immigration officer, until one day, she accepts the catering guy’s proposal, and they get married.

In the meantime, Viktor meets a beautiful flight attendant (Catherine Zeta – Jones), named Amelia, and falls in love with her. After breaking up with her boyfriend, she gives Viktor a chance, but, as soon as Viktor starts making those friends, the security director tries to find a way to make him leave the airport and get arrested, which would mean Viktor wouldn’t be his problem anymore.

By the end of the movie, Amelia gets a one-day visa for Viktor, so that he can leave JFK and fulfill his dad’s promise. Unfortunately, the next day the war in Krakozhia is over, and he’s not allowed to go to New York, but has to return to his country. Then, a floor cleaner friend of Viktor somehow delays the flight, and he is able to leave the airport.

In my opinion, it would be way easier if the security director REALLY tried to solve Viktor’s problem, and not just pushed it to another department, by talking to the big mangers or to the United Nations.

The movie, mainly in its first scenes, made me reflect about how people, especially at the airports, act selfishly and don’t help  other people who have problems (like Viktor), perhaps because of their fear of security checks, or of the stressful and exhausting trips.