Directed by: Joe Wright
Starring: Gary Oldman, Kristin Scott Thomas, Lily James, Ben Mendelsohn, Ronald Pickup, Stephen Dillane
Darkest Hour, aside from a hokey finale which reeks of movie fiction, tensely details the first month of Prime Minister Winston Churchill's term in May 1940. Germany's victory over France is all but certain as Neville Chamberlain (Pickup) is booted from office by Parliament and the only candidate whom both parties can agree upon to replace him is the irascible, eccentric Churchill (Oldman). With France's imminent fall and 300,000 mostly British soldiers stranded at Dunkirk, Churchill has no time to make nice. The United Kingdom will soon be the only country left standing as Hitler conquered Western Europe and Scandinavia. Churchill's more moderate war cabinet, consisting of Chamberlain and the heir apparent to the Prime Ministry Viscount Halifax (Dillane), pushes for peace talks, which to Churchill equates to a surrender and subservience to Hitler. This will not do, but the forecast of imminent invasion makes things dicey.
Directed by Joe Wright (Pride and Prejudice, Hanna, Atonement), Darkest Hour not only gives us a Winston Churchill with foibles as well as heroic qualities, but relishes them equally. Was Churchill correct to not even entertain the thought of peace? Historical hindsight tells us yes, but Darkest Hour plays in the moment, when things looked bleak and the chances of a British victory over the German war machine seemed remote at best. The United States signed a pact to remain neutral and refused to offer any meaningful help to Churchill. The UK was totally alone in their fight to stave off annihilation at the hands of the Nazis. Wright does not make the mistake of showing Churchill as a heroic bore who is constantly right while others around him are constantly wrong. He is allowed to be doubtful, angry, petulant, and stubborn, as well as addressing his staff while taking a bath. Because the film embraces these traits, it gives us an intimate portrait of a man thrust into a dangerous situation in which any answer may be the wrong one.
This is the best work of Gary Oldman's career, which truth be told has been chock full of hammy villain roles and at times intense overacting (as well as other strong work), but here he nurtures Churchill's idiosyncrasies like little treasures. He clearly loves the complexity of such a historical titan and has some great moments while chewing out his political opponents. ("You cannot negotiate with a tiger while your head is in its mouth"). Oldman is at his most appealing when Churchill is at his most vulnerable. A poignant late scene with King George VI (Mendelsohn), who at first reluctantly went along with Churchill's appointment only to side with him later, is the most powerful in the movie.
We see Churchill through the eyes of pretty young secretary Elizabeth Layton (James), who is at first fired for not being able to keep up with typing his rambling speeches and then rehired, but her character is mostly superfluous. I would have liked to see more interaction with Winston and his wife Clementine (Scott Thomas), who at times is the only voice other than his own he will listen to, mostly because she knows him so well. Clementine may possibly be the only person in Europe who can keep Churchill at bay. Their scenes are glorious fun because we gain a sense of what has made their long marriage work. She isn't there to blindly support him, but to nudge him in the right direction when he strays off course or give him a kick in the arse if necessary. Scott Thomas' work is wonderful here. I would love to see her nominated for a Best Supporting Actress Oscar.
The final fifteen minutes in which Churchill boards an Underground train and asks the passengers how he should handle Hitler and the looming invasion is meant as a feel-good moment, but to me rings false and cliched. I don't know if such a thing ever happened, but it doesn't feel right in a movie which is at its strongest as it depicts the noose tightening around not just Churchill, but the entire nation. This leads to the inspiration of Churchill's immortal speech to Parliament ("we will fight them in the parks..."), but I could've done without the false impetus.
With that said, Darkest Hour is still touching, funny in the way it pinpoints human nature, and a tense and focused political drama. It gives us a view of what exactly was happening in the homeland while hundreds of thousands of soldiers at Dunkirk were anxiously awaiting either rescue or their grim fate.
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