"You are wise because you have doubts"

Rating: 7/10 (24 December 2017)

"Darkest Hour" (2017 release; 125 min.) is a movie about Winston's Churchill's initial month in office. As the movie opens. we are reminded it is "9 May 1940", with the Nazi's about to run over Holland and Belgium, and the UK looking for a new leader following Chamberlain. We get to know Churchill: working from his bed, with a stiff drink, and almost scaring away his new secretary (because she typed single-spaced). While certainly not revered by his colleagues (and oven less by King George), Winston Churchill nevertheless get his lifelong dream fulfilled and is named Prime Minister on May 10th. At this point we are 10 min. into the movie but to tell you more of the plot would spoil your viewing experience, you'll just have to see for yourself how it all plays out.
Couple of comments: this is the latest movie from British director Joe Wright, whose previous work includes the fine 2012 remake of "Anna Karenina". Here, working from a script by Anthony McCarten, we get a close look at Churchill in his early days as Prime Minister. The movie covers the period of May 9-28, 1940, so this by no means meant as a definitive bio-pick f the life and times of Winston Churchill, who had an amazing and long political career, spanning 5 decades. If you hope to learn anything about Churchill's personal life, then this movie is definitely not for you (his wife Clementine appears in some scenes, and their grown-up kids in exactly 1 scene). If on the other hand you are curious how Churchill ran his War Cabinet or how Churchill dealt with King George, then this movie is very much for you. I have no idea whether all of what we see on the big screen actually happened or not (did Churchill really take that subway ride to be "among the British people"?), but the narrative is certainly there. And there there is Gary Oldman, in the role of his life as Winston Churchill. Oldman is virtually unrecognizable under all of the heavy makeup, and instead it is as if we see Churchill in the flesh. A role like this in a movie like this, is sure to generate a LOT of nominations in the upcoming awards season (Oldman was already nominated for the Golden Globes). Comments Churchill's wife at one point: "You are wise because you have doubts", and that about sums it up. It's apparently very lonely at the top, and riddled ith doubts. WHat a job Churchill did under the most demanding of circumstances. Last but certainly not least, as I was watching this movie, it feels like the other side of the coin to "Dunkirk", a very different movie obviously, but covering some of the same historical ground and facts. "Darkest Hour" is also far better than the weak "Churchill" movie from earlier this year (starring Brian Cox).
"Darkest Hours" opened on 4 screens this weekend here in Cincinnati. The Saturday early evening screening where I saw this at (in a fairly large theater) was absolutely jam-packed to the rafters, much to my surprise. Looks like there is a large appetite for this type of historical drama. I encourage you to check out "Darkest Hour", be it in the theater, on VOD or eventually on DVD/Blu-ray, and draw your own conclusion.