Winston the legend than the more layered man

Rating: 5/10 (20 January 2018)

Growing up in the 1980s with a right wing Thatcher government in Britain who seemed to eulogize Winston Churchill at every occasion even if she had barely known the man. I ended up not being over enthused by the man even if he was the right person to be a war leader in world war 2, no doubt helped by copious amounts of alcohol.
Churchill was a man with a dim view of people darker than him. He was happy to use chemical weapons against Iraqis and was desperate to use them against Indians. In 1943 almost 3 million Indians, subjects of the British empire died in the Bengal famine, because food was diverted from the starving Indians and gone to the west. Despite taking their food he blamed the deaths on the Indians themselves for breeding like rabbits.
Darkest Hour does mention the ill fated Gallipoli campaign where blame was laid on Churchill's door. However the film recreates the legend than a more complex portrait.
The film covers the first few weeks from May 1940 as the Nazis are invading Europe with Britain standing on the brink of invasion. Chamberlain was forced to resign, Churchill becomes Prime Minister but the Tory Party grandees are at odds with him and even the monarch is reluctant to back him. Some Tories want Churchill to have peace talks with Hitler, cut a deal but he is having none of it.
Gary Oldman gives a fruity performance but really he is a long line of actors who have played Churchill. There is nothing here that Albert Finney or Robert Hardy has done better.
The film really could had been dynamic but just becomes bland and plodding as it becomes a battle between the politicians plotting against him. There is that underground scene where Churchill consults with the people, it must have been the longest ride on the Westminster tube line.