"Darkest Hour"

One of the best period dramas I’ve seen in years. If The Shape of Water wasn’t in the way, this would have been a sure-fire win.

Gary Oldman chronicles Sir Winston Churchill’s first month in office as England’s Prime Minister during World War II. This chain-smoking, brandy-drinking, feather-ruffling, old geezer didn’t change anything about his old habits with the transition, which made him more enemies along the way, including almost going toe to toe with King George VI. But when the British army is stranded on the beaches of Dunkirk, they turn to him and his stubborn ideas for answers. Part of the story is told through Lily James’ eyes as she stars as Churchill’s secretary. She helps pen two of Churchill’s most influential speeches, including the speech saying that England will battle to the end and they will never surrender.

The entire film is on point from stellar acting from Oldman, James, and Ben Mendelsohn as the King, to gorgeous cinematography to a moving score to intense storytelling of one of the greatest rescue missions ever seen at the time. It is a very simple story, but the 2½ hour movie is jammed packed with adventure and drama as well as plenty of laughs, like when Churchill flips off the paper thinking it’s the victory sign. There is also the game-changing event in which he slips out of his motorcade to take the Underground to Parliament. From there he has a conversation with the other passengers on Parliament’s decision to hold off from rescuing the army as well as refraining from moving forward in the war. The passengers, of course, say no, including a six-year-old girl who says she’ll never surrender. This whole sequence may be made up especially with many biopics and period films have come under fire for fudging history to make the story more exciting, but it worked. Churchill got the support he needed, and the rescue at Dunkirk was a success.

Another thing I was excited about: Churchill’s secret bunker. I saw it in a Secrets of London documentary on PBS. It is so secret that the filmmakers couldn’t film the location of the entrance. That being said, the studio surely would have had to recreate the bunker, and it was the very likeness of the bunker shown in the documentary, aside from having 75 years of mold and water damage.

The film is another example of England being a strong, stubborn country. They knew Hitler was going to stop at nothing from taking all of Europe. They knew the rescue at Dunkirk was suicide. When the United States refused to provide aid, on or off the table, they were on their own. It was one man’s dream to victory and a population loyal to that dream that made them persevere and overcome the Nazi regime and rule as a powerful nation. We Americans rarely give the British any credit on being able to hold their own. After our split from the American Revolution and the War of 1812, we just kind of ignored each other. When the Great War broke out, England fought hard alongside France and Belgium. We didn’t join until the last 18 months of it. During World War II, England was truly all alone for a while. But they proved that they are brave and they didn’t surrender. This is one of the few films that show that strength we only see in the pages of history books.

I hope you liked this. Be sure to subscribe and leave a comment about what you thought or if you want to recommend a movie for me to review. Thank you for reading. I'll return next week with another movie. See you then.

Released On: December 22, 2018

Rating: PG-13

Stars: Gary Oldman, Lily Collins, Ben Mendelsohn

Director: Joe Wright

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 84% Certified Fresh

IMDb Score: 7.4/10

Awards

Academy Awards

• Best Picture - Nominated
• Best Actor Gary Oldman - Winner
• Best Production Design - Sarah Greenwood & Katie Spencer - Nominated
• Best Cinematography Bruno Delbonnel - Nominated
• Best Makeup and Hairstyling Kazuhiro Tsuji, David Malinowski & Lucy Sibbick - Winner
• Best Costume Design Jacqueline Durran - Nominated

Golden Globe Awards

• Best Actor Motion Picture Drama Gary Oldman - Winner

(Click here to view more awards for "Darkest Hour")