Oldman shines in impeccable performance as Director Wright narrowly avoids pitfall of complete hagiography

Rating: 7/10 (4 February 2018)

Political leaders often come to represent the embodiment of a nation, particularly during wartime. In reality, they are only singular entities, part of a greater whole. The challenge in any fictional representation is to humanize them, and avoid hagiography at all costs. Joe Wright manages to do that, but comes close to putting his Churchill on a pedestal. Nonetheless, one must still admire the effort.
Darkest Hour covers the period of Churchill's ascendancy to the office of the Prime Minister, through the darkest hour of Britain's retreat from Dunkirk and near capitulation to the Nazis. This particular period in British history usually is regarded as Churchill's finest hour, so the tendency to elevate the iconic figure to almost unquestioning estimable status, is ever present. But Churchill was flawed in more than ways than one, and notably he was cast out of office by popular demand, following the end of World War II.
The notion that Churchill was a politically flawed candidate is ably brought to the fore by Wright and screenwriter Anthony McCarten. There was principally the debacle of the Gallipoli Campaign in the First World War, as well as his support for Edward VIII during the Abdication Crisis in 1936. What's more it was Churchill's unpredictable temper (magisterially conveyed by Gary Oldman in an Oscar-worthy role), that led to great reluctance (particularly among members of his own Conservative party) to elevate him as head of state.
When we first meet Oldham as Churchill, his unpredictable demeanor is on display in full relief as he berates his newly minted secretary, Elizabeth Layton, who has difficulty understanding him while taking dictation (Layton jointed Churchill's staff a year later than depicted here). In addition, Kristin Scott Thomas, in a minor part, is most convincing as Churchill's wife Clementine, who remains supportive but isn't afraid to criticize her often brusque husband, when he's in need of some choice words to mollify his often over-the-top behavior.
Director Wright did a fine job of casting the principals, as they all resemble their real-life counterparts, fitfully. This is particularly true of Neville Chamberlain and King George VI, who look and sound like the real thing. One fact I was unaware of was that Churchill kept Chamberlain on in an advisory role even after he was roundly dismissed from office.
Perhaps the best scenes in the film are the meetings between Churchill and the King. Ben Mendelsohn does a better job as King George VI than Colin Firth's Oscar-winning performance in "The Kings Speech." Not only does he look like George VI, but here the King appears more adapted to his speech disability than was depicted in the earlier film. The King's misgivings about Churchill eventually give way to admiration, as they end up on the same page in their determination to defeat Hitler.
Wright's antagonist here is Lord Halifax, who declined to become Prime Minister despite strong support in his Conservative party (it was in fact the Labour and Liberal parties who were against Halifax, finding Churchill the lesser of two evils!). Halifax wanted a negotiated peace with the Germans as he feared that Britain would soon lose the war and incur massive civilian losses. In hindsight, Churchill's prescient views on Hitler and the Nazi menace appear morally superior to Halifax and the so-called "appeasers" in the Conservative party. But in the context of the times, "appeasement" was quite understandable, given the fear of another World War I debacle, so imprinted in the minds of all Europeans who lived through that devastating conflict.
Wright's treatment of Churchill during the Dunkirk crisis is well-balanced. We discover it's Churchill's idea to institute "Operation Dynamo," where a flotilla of private boats were conscripted to save the Army stranded on Dunkirk beach. But it was also Churchill who ordered the garrison at Calais to stall the Germans from reaching Dunkirk before the evacuation. Wright's best visual is a shot of the beleaguered troops at Calais about to be annihilated; the camera pulls upward as the doomed troops are now a dot, with the German bombers raining bombs on their untenable position.
By its very nature, the Darkest Hour narrative is inherently dialogue heavy. But Wright very cleverly follows Churchill almost as if everything is in "real time" (yes it's over a few months but feels like days). Wright constantly is shifting scenes, taking us from Churchill's study, to the underground bunker, outside on the streets and in Parliament. The only dark stain here is Wright's decision to create that subway scene (or as the Brits call it, the "underground") out of whole cloth.
Wright argues that Churchill purportedly disappeared at times and often would go and speak with people out on the street for their input. It never happened that Churchill took a ride on the subway and spoke to the common people. It's a scene that feels forced, especially where he has Churchill take advice from a black man of Caribbean origin (it might be comforting to know Churchill harbored no ill-will toward minorities, but historically he was probably just as elitist as both his confederates and adversaries at the time!).
Ultimately there is enough here to conclude that Joe Wright has avoided complete hero worship (narrowly!). With Oldman's impeccable performance and a fluid recreation of a key period in world history, Darkest Hour is one of the stronger entries in this year's Oscar pantheon.