Darkest Hour (2017)

In terms of my favourite film portrayals of British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, it is a three-way tie. There is Timothy Spall on "The King's Speech", John Lithgow on Netflix's "The Crown" and now there is Gary Oldman. Director Joe Wright's previous film wasn't a success so I bet he is happy with how "Darkest Hour" turned out. While others didn't take too well to the narrative, I found it worked thanks to the performances.

Those who were bored with "Dunkirk" (also released in 2017) should hopefully find the same story from Churchill's perspective in this movie more entertaining. That's not to say that "Dunkirk" was a bad movie, rather that the realism robbed the film of much of its potential excitement. "Darkest Hour" not only portrays the events of Operation Dynamo but also the May 1940 War Cabinet crisis. Before we get to those dramatic moments, the film is quite lighthearted. The historically accurate bathtub scene is one example of the movie's lighter side, which affectively contrasts the dramatic moments closer to the climax. Most of us watching this film already know the ending of this story but regardless of that, the filmmakers keep us in suspense as to how we will arrive at the ending. For example, we know with the benefit of hindsight that seeking peace with Germany was not going to work but as we watch the film, we are led to think that Churchill might do well to at least consider it. I was quite impressed with the portrayal of King George VI. Despite his initial objections and plans to relocate to Canada, the King ends up being the one who starts Winston on his path of triumph. Whether fact of fiction, this is where the head of state perfectly exercised his constitutional duties and showed just how much good the monarchy can do. The best scene in the whole film was in the Underground. The acting and writing worked perfectly in changing the mood of the film. This leads to two climatic speeches where Gary Oldman shines the most. It is a great ending because it speaks volumes about how the country successfully waged the Battle of Britain until the United States entered World War II. By the way, the end credits fail to mention that even though Churchill was voted out of office in 1945, he was re-elected in 1951.

This cast had such chemestry. Previous to this movie, Gary Oldman had only one career Oscar nomination and he deserved his first win for this role. That was one of my favourite Oscar moments of that year among very few. Seeing as how he had won the Golden Globe and the Screen Actors Guild award previous to the Academy Awards that year, the Oscar was pretty much in the bag. I have been a big fan of his work ever since "Air Force One". I was hoping his performance, when combined with the Oscar-winning makeup and wardrobe, would cause me to forget the actor and see only the character he was playing. Only when Oldman removed his glasses in the film could I recognize him visually and I could also recognize his voice whenever Churchill shouted. Otherwise, after a few minutes of getting used to him, I accepted what I was presented. Oldman spent over 200 hours in the makeup chair and the total cost of the cigars used in the film was about $20,000. I didn't recognize Lily James until the end credits and I thought she also gave a wonderful performance. Another great performance was Ben Mendelsohn as the King. I didn't even recognize him, having seen him previously in "The Dark Knight Rises" (also staring Oldman) and "Rogue One". Even though nothing will equal Colin Firth's performance, Mendelsohn had the stutter down pretty well. It's too bad John Hurt wasn't well enough to play Chamberlain. It didn't surprise me at all to find out that David Strathairn voiced President Roosevelt. He was amazing in "Lincoln" and his vocal performance in "Darkest Hour" was so good that I could picture the real US President in my mind. Another great fact that I discovered was that the film's screenwriter, Anthony McCarten, also wrote "The Theory of Everything" and received two Academy Award nominations for his work on that film (I am quite excited for some of his upcoming films).

"Darkest Hour" also received Oscar nomination for Best Picture, Cinematography, Costume Design and Production Design. I predicted it would win the Makeup and Hairstyling category and if I was a member of the Academy, I would choose this film as Best Picture. The acting is the best quality of "Darkest Hour". It made a good story even better. I am glad that Gary Oldman finally won some awards that he has deserved for some time. It is quite daring to give an alternate perspective of a story that was already told months earlier on the big screen but I came away well entertained and inspired.

4 Stars out of 5