The best picture of the year despite a few negligible flaws

Rating: 9/10 (4 February 2018)

After seeing the trailer, I walked in to the cinema with great excitement to watch this movie, and it did not disappoint for a second. It was written to give Gary Oldman the opportunity to earn his Oscar, and boy did he do so.
I am not going to further explain the reasons why Oldman's performance is extraordinary, it is surely obvious for those who have seen this movie. But I would like to mention two supporting actors whose brilliant work made it possible for Oldman to excel: Stephen Dillane's perfect performance as the realist Halifax and Ben Mendelsohn's performance as King George VI were truly amazing.
The thing I liked most about this movie is the rapid transition from the funny, joyful, even mischievous atmosphere of the beginning of the film to the troubling, shocking and dark reality of the nazi threat. Events escalated very quickly, and the change in Oldman's behaviour illustrated perfectly the seriousness of the situation. He had to make a choice which affected milllions of lives and he had to endure pressure that very few could cope with. The scene showing the siege of Calais represented the huge responsibility on his shoulders and the tragedy of his position: whatever he does, his decisions will cost lives. As a result of his strong and confident personality, he managed to overcome his doubts and did what was necessary. The ending scene was the perfect resolution to this story: his famous speech that changed the course of history.
However, there were some small flaws in the movie. The film makes us believe that almost every citizen in the UK was against peace talks, when this is in fact not true. A lot of people (not just among politicans, but among every layer of british society) were supporting peace talks, as there are a lot of different opinions in every society. No country can be on a full consensus regarding such complicated questions: even though the majority might have been against peace talks, it was not such an overwhelming majority as this movie makes us think.
Furthermore, the scene in the subway was not realistic at all. I do not think for a second that any politician in any country would be greeted this way by every single person on the train. There must have been at least a few people there who disagreed with Churchill's policies: for example there were a lot of socialists amongst the UK citizens at that time (especially amongst poor people) and most of them despised Churchill, and Churchill despised them as well (one of his famous quotes: "Socialism is the philosophy of failure...").
All in all, this movie is the perfect tribute to Winston Churchill, and for me the main message of the film was this: democracy is what saved the UK in this darkest hour of European history. After a heavy battle of two different ideas of how Britain should move forward, a talented politician called Churchill managed to convince the parliament and the people that the right choice was continuing to wage war, and after the majority backed his stance againt nazi Germany, it turned out he was right. He was the perfect prime minister for wartime, and as peace drew nearer he was quickly replaced, even though he was considered to be a hero among many: an unexpected turn that could only be possible in a true democracy.