Darkest Hour | Film Review

World War II left an indelible mark on humanity. It showcased humanity at its utmost best, and its very worst.  While soldiers are the ones who fight the battles, it’s the politicians and governments that wage the wars.  Very rarely in cinema do we get insight into the political side of war.  Darkest Hour provides us with that view.

In spring of 1940, the Nazis were on the verge of total victory in Europe. The defending British, French, and Canadian forces had been pushed back to the English Channel at Dunkirk. With no plan in place to save them, Parliament was seriously considering entering peace negotiations with Hitler.  Due to his failure to properly prosecute the war in Norway, Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain (Ronald Pickup) had just received a vote of no confidence from Parliament and resigned. Enter into this chaos First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill (Gary Oldman), a chaotic figure in his own right.  The political machinations that led to his becoming Prime Minister make up a large portion of the opening act of this film, and are fascinating to any student of history or politics.

The remaining 2/3’s of the film deal with Churchill’s refusal to enter into any kind of negotiated peace with Germany, as well as his overwhelming insistence that the forces trapped at Dunkirk not only could be, but needed to be, saved. While his addresses to Parliament are steadfast in their insistence that Britain will “never surrender”, in private we discover that Churchill is plagued with doubt about the course he has chosen for his nation, as well as his ability to protect his citizens and save his army.  His interactions with King George VI (Ben Mendelsohn) only feed those insecurities.  It isn’t until Churchill takes it upon himself to speak to common British citizens on the Underground (London’s subway system) that he finds the resolve to stand true to his convictions.  From beginning to end this film is a fascinating study in the weight of national office during a time of war, and what toll that weight can take on the leaders in question.

Occasionally, a film comes along that serves to shine a spotlight on one specific actor. Either by accident or design, it makes us marvel at the skill that is acting: the ability for one person to become a different person so completely that they make us BELIEVE in that transformation and forget we are watching a performance.  With Darkest Hour, Gary Oldman reaches the pinnacle of character acting.  He doesn’t just portray Winston Churchill: for 125 minutes he IS Winston Churchill.  Few actors have ever been able to so completely immerse themselves into a historical figure.  Oldman has been nominated for numerous awards for the strength of this performance, and, in my opinion, if he doesn’t win an Oscar that award has ceased to have any meaning.

Make no mistake, this is Oldman’s movie. The supporting cast is good, often VERY good, but none of them even come close to eclipsing Oldman’s performance. Two stand-outs in the supporting cast are Kristin Scott Thomas, who plays Churchill’s wife Clementine, and Ben Mendelsohn as King George VI.  Mendelsohn does a fabulous job of portraying the frustration and fear of a monarch faced with the possible need to abandon his country and form a government-in-exile.  No British monarch in modern history has faced such trying times, and his interactions with Churchill were pivotal in the eventual conduct of the war.

The cinematography and setting of 1940’s London are very much what we have come to expect from period pieces such as this. There are few sunny days to be had and grey is the overriding color scheme.  Details such as sandbagged shelters, Air-raid Wardens roaming the streets give the impression of a city already under siege, even though the Battle of Britain and its air raids on the city had yet to begin.  This is exactly the look that Director Joe Wright was going for, and – while it sets the mood for the movie perfectly – some details missed, and an over-reliance on that same stereotypical “Grey London” detracted from the overall appearance of the film for me, even if for just a bit.

As with many historical period pieces, this movie isn’t for everyone. It is entirely dialogue and performance driven.  There is virtually no action nor combat scenes – save for a few brief glimpses of the troops under siege at Dunkirk – to spark the interest of anyone not fascinated by history for its own sake.  I can guess that a common complaint will be a plodding pace, again by people who can’t sit through a dialogue driven film.  However, if you are a fanatical student of history as I am, or love to watch movies for the sake of their amazing performances, this film is a must-see.

The world we live in today was shaped by the month-long series of events depicted in this film. Had a man of lesser character and willpower been made Prime Minister in 1940, the shape of our world would be VERY different. The citizens of the United Kingdom, and the free world at large, owe Winston Churchill an ongoing debt of gratitude.  Darkest Hour makes this abundantly and necessarily clear.

“…we shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender” Winston Churchill to Parliament, June 04, 1940.