Brought contrivance to a whole new level

Rating: 3/10 (29 November 2018)

I'd put off watching this film. I've a bit of a problem with theatrical reconstructions portrayed as fact. What is true and what is made up for dramatic effect? If you don't know the subject matter you simply don't know. Why let truth get in the way when you have a product (film) to sell?
Having watched Darkest Hour, I'm none the wiser (my history is poor). As is often the case with these sorts of biopic films, I found myself wanting to watch a documentary.
The main body of the film was okay. But I found it annoying - why did Churchill have to make the privy joke, for example.... "I can only take one s**t at a time." This was one of quite a few examples which I felt was overly contrived, perhaps to make the film more accessible. I could accept that if it was a totally fictional story, but it wasn't..
But worse - a LOT worse was to come. Why did Churchill get the tube? I might be wrong but I'm pretty sure that didn't happen. Regardless, he says when on the train "have you never seen a prime minister on the underground before"? He then suddenly becomes humble and a 'man of the people' - so out of context and character to what the man was all about. Why? He then asks his adoring fellow travellers about the prospective peace deal with Hitler..... They reply "Never! Never!" Not a single descenter (no pacifists allowed on the train clearly). So he takes zero notice of his advisers, and 100% notice of the people on the train who apparently support his view - including a token black man he pats on the hand (I understand he was a known racist - if so, why change history?) AND THEN HE CRIED. WTF? He gets off at Westminster (a long time for one stop) and not a single person on the train gets off at that stop. Have you ever known a packed train and no-one gets off? Social realism it is not.
The film brought contrivance to a whole new level. I hated it - but I can't take anything away from Gary Oldman who was brilliant throughout, hence a score of 3 rather than the minimum, which the film (if not Oldman) deserved.