Darkest Hour
The trick this film pulls off is that we all know how it ends. That’s how we are getting to see the story played out. Winston Churchill is a symbol of Britishness (for better or worse) because of the turn in the Second World War that resulted in an eventual allied victory. At the point of Dunkirk, however, the situation was awful and the Conservative Party was riven with chaos as Neville Chamberlain lost the support of the House, and a coalition government—and someone to lead it—was urgently sought. Anyone but Churchill, and probably Viscount Halifax—and a negotiated settlement with the Führer. Joe Wright ’s tremendous film takes this story and makes Winston Churchill into a brittle and maybe even flawed hero. Gary Oldman put on a fat-suit and chained expensive cigars in order to seem like the Churchill figure of legend. This Winston knows of his reputation: everything from the failure of Gallipoli to the support of Edward’s relationship with Wallis Simpson. Nobody in the gov...