Churchill - but for the tabloid newspaper readers!

Rating: 6/10 (19 January 2018)

This is a poor film that was chiefly rescued by an outstanding performance by Gary Oldman as Churchill, fully the equal of Robert Hardy, and very good performances from the other leading actors. In spite of that, the Churchill we see here is a blustering buffoon who shouts at anyone who disagrees with him and relies on people in the street (including the obligatory ethnic minority types) telling him whether he should make peace with Hitler or not. Utter nonsense, of course, and completely non-historical. Churchill had very good reasons for continuing the war and defying Hitler and without these reasons he would himself admit that he would have had no choice but to negotiate. These reasons were not analysed and all we get here is an obese blowhard who throws hissy-fits and invokes ancient history to justify his decisions. This is history for the tabloid readers, not for the intelligent audience seeking 'real' history. This film was a huge missed opportunity to delve deep into a fascinating period of history and find the rationale behind many of Churchill's decisions.