When in doubt, print the legend

Rating: 3/10 (9 April 2018)

This period of British and European history has been dealt with before and with a far better script.
Interestingly, this film along with Nolan's Dunkirk, have both been released as Britain prepares to leave the European Union and, according to some Brexiteers, once again plans to become a "global power". The rose-tinted approach to Britain's "Finest Hour" were once again very much on display here and the entire confection has clearly been aimed at an audience either too young or too uninformed to know anything about the reality.
Mr Wright does like his aerial shots, doesn't he? They were in danger of becoming somewhat tedious in this little piece we saw them so often.
And who wrote the script? We have Churchill and George VI having lunch with virtually no formality. Quite unlike the deference we know Churchill exhibited towards the monarchy. Then later we have George VI "popping round" to see Churchill at Number Ten and being received by Winston, who is in a slight state of deshabille, in what appears to his day bedroom (toffs have those apparently). Nor am I entirely sure Churchill would have kissed the King's hand after being invited to become PM, although such an action reeks of medieval "homage" "liege lord/man" and such like which will surely go down well with an American audience.
The history leaves much to be desired. There was no intent by the opposition (Labour and Liberals) to make Churchill PM and nor did Churchill abstain from the 8 May 1940 debate as the opening parliamentary scene shows. Likewise it was Chamberlain who suggested a coalition government, to which Churchill was opposed. Nor do I imagine Attlee was quite so bellicose in debate.
Then we have the "flotilla of little ships" scenario - where were the British and French navies? Anyone who has no knowledge of the events of late May 1940 will be left with the impression that the allied forces were rescued entirely by a motley collection of yachts and pleasure cruisers.
And it was not the entire British Army marooned in Dunkirk. Britain had its armed forces and its navy positioned across its Empire. This is another incidental that is forgotten in the starry-eyed "Little England" myth. Britain had a huge Empire that stretched around the globe. The forces at Dunkirk were the remnants of the BEF sent in 1939.
In the references to Nicholson at Calais, where were the the French and Belgian forces also fighting alongside the British? They never get mentioned.
The cherry on the cake for ludicrous nonsense was Churchill's trip on the tube. Where was his bodyguard? And what would Special Branch have had to say about his taking an impromptu ride on public transport?
The forelock tugging "salt of the earth" types including a Black Briton who quoted Macaulay were nauseating for both, hagiography and inaccuracy. I half expected them all to break into a chorus of "Land of Hope and Glory".
Contrary to such propaganda, Britain was far from united in its resolve to fight Hitler in 1940, as various historians, along with the contemporary Mass Observation accounts, have demonstrated.
The British government was seriously concerned about how the civilian population would react to, and cope with, total war, and there was a fear of what may ensue from the collapse of public morale.
The historical context of this film would have been far better served if such silly scenes had been omitted and we had been given insights into the American, French, and German viewpoints , in particular, Hitler's known ambivalence towards Britain.
Regrettably it seems that a fine actor like Gary Oldman, who was excellent in the part, has received his Oscar for one of his least memorable films, as unfortunately, did Al Pacino.