I'm not certain why Americans tend to be mesmerized and borderline obsessed with British historical figures and actors/actresses. Not that it is a negative thing, but rather just a curious phenomenon. In the film Darkest Hour rather than a biographical take on the former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, the writers focused on the period of time when Neville Chamberlain stepped aside and Churchill ascended to power. Much to my surprise it was not a smooth transition; I had no idea British politics of the time were fraught with so much intrigue and backstabbing. Nothing has changed in 70 plus years, nor do I think it will in the foreseeable future. It was a fascinating idea just taking a snapshot of his life and filing that, but I believe it could have been conveyed much more effectively. In the film politicians complain that Churchill is a brute, a drunk, and incapable of truly leading the government because of his reckless behavior and there is a "plot" of sorts to unseat him (does any of that sound recently familiar) and get someone much more "suitable" to lead the British government. Gary Oldman, who is my favorite actor, plays Churchill flawlessly; although I know very little about the man's personality, habits, and life, it seems rather consensual that he brought to life a very comparable performance mirroring the real man. He was tough, vulnerable, humorous, and plain spoken; Gary Oldman was great and definitely deserved the Academy Award for Best Actor. Like so many of his past roles, he becomes the character, and perhaps one of his greatest was his take on Ludwig van Beethoven in Immortal Beloved (which also happens to be most likely my favorite film of all time that isn't related to Star Wars). Honestly, his performance is why you'd want to see the film but he wasn't the only talented individual bringing life to past figures of history. Ben Mendelsohn played played King George VI perfectly; he looked like him, acted like him, and sounded like him a little bit. It was a fine addition to the cast. Lily James played Churchill's secretary Elizabeth Layton, and for the most part her character was unfortunately quite bland, but she was a foil to Churchill and brought out more of his more "humane" qualities. Ronald Pickup played that spineless fool Neville Chamberlain perfectly, and now I know why history has largely forgotten him. Stephen Dillane known for his role as Stannis Baratheon played Viscount Halifax, who essentially was the would be Prime Minister in waiting and pushed all he could to have Churchill removed in as politically calculating a way as he was able. A truly despicable and stupid man, but he was played brilliantly. Kristin Scott Thomas played Clemmie the wife of Winston Churchill, and she did tend to light the screen up whenever she was in a scene for the most part, but it would have been nice to see more of her.
Joe Wright directed the film, and although he is a very talented director, he tends to be hit or miss with what he comes out with. Atonement and Pan and The Soloist were not quite so good, even though they were visually quite sumptuous, and even Anna Karenina would meet that same criteria. His best film in my opinion would be Pride and Prejudice from 2005. He did a fair job of directing this film, but it was really slow, and it depicted Churchill at his weakest as Prime Minister, which I didn't relish. One of the things that made the film challenging to watch for me was literally understanding what Gary Oldman was saying; I feel like I often hadn't a clue what he was saying as the character would mumble. Even if this was how the man spoke, it may have been indulged a little too much for the screen; it's one way to talk like that in real life, but it's entirely different matter if you're trying to watch a film and make sense of what is going on. All of this ties in with the writing of course done by Anthony McCarten, and this is where I substantially disagree with the direction of the film; I don't think it should have been a snapshot but rather the scope of his term as Prime Minister, or they should have chosen a moment later on in the war. The only really enjoyable, or interesting character was Winston Churchill in the entire film, which I do not believe is a telling sign of a well written film if all your eggs are in one basket. The successful opposite of this of course would be Steven Spielberg's film Lincoln which aside from Schindler's List is his greatest film. Dario Marianelli did the music, and he is an amazing film composer, but nothing really stood out for this film which is all too entirely disappointing for a man of his talent. I do not know how historically accurate this film was, and how much the filmmakers indulged in fantasy in order to arrive at the finished product, but for the most part it seemed right on the nose. Overall it was a good film, but nothing spectacular like it truly could have been; it didn't capture the larger than life man or the powerful and forceful genius that he was. It also suffered from being dull and slow periodically, which usually doesn't bother me provided everything else is good, but in this case there was a shortage of that. I might see it again, but if you're not a history person or drama person, I don't think you'd like or enjoy this film. For now, the film Lincoln would be a good bet as a perfect example of a great man brought to life on screen with just simply a snapshot of his time.Gary Oldman on being Winston Churchill
Darkest Hour film clip
Ordeal by Innocence trailer (looks like a good cast at least).
