A flawed masterpiece

Rating: 10/10 (27 March 2019)

I was really taken aback when I first saw this film. I was expecting just another WWII drama with misapplied history and too much fiction. The script more or less gave me that. Centering on the month that Churchill 1st assumed office until Dunkirk and the famous "we will fight them on..." speech the film presents a near fictional story of Churchill nearly striking terms with Germany. Apart from that there is ton of ahistoric material involving George VI becoming Churchill's friend. The scripts weaknesses really come to a head during the (out of context) laughably bad underground sequence where Churchill goes directly to the British people for advice. I think the script is so functionary in a film like this. It is probably better to think of this as a morality play as opposed to historical drama.
Because despite all of the script's traditional dramatic trappings Wright really brings to life a wonderfully emotional and striking film. He repeatedly stages scenes in odd and ironic ways that comment on script and the myth of Churchill. For all the script is trying to honor the man Wright's visual selection undermines him and brings to mind his flawed aspects i.e. Churchill's militarism. Best of all, Delbonnel 's work, coupled with the art direction/costumes presents a version of the 40's that is inky mood personified; Many shots of this film look like am oil canvas come to life. Churchill's stubborn refusal to give in is presented in near black and white. Given today's political moment this sort of rousing treatment of the Dunkirk Retreat is very much needed. This is a far better film than Nolan's intellectualized claptrap that came out the same year treating the same subject.
Apart from Wright, Oldman is the other really outstanding aspect of this film. He emotes past a lot of (very good, invisible) make-up to give a really powerful impersonation and performance of iron willed zealot. I have seen the film 3-4 times and I cannot help but to get swept up into the central performance of this film. Apart from Oldman I felt both Thomas and Mendelsohn did a lot in their limited screen time. Thomas absolutely conveys the hot mess that Winston's personal life was. Meanwhile, Mendelsohn is saddled with a technically difficult character. George VI was a stammerer and moreover Firth in the King's Speech was fairly recent, inviting comparisons. Mendelsohn's George VI is more subdued with the stammering but it works in this film. I really like his performance overall given how he manages to stammer without calling attention to it.
Great film.