Monday, May 14, 2018

Darkest Hour

I saw this movie last year.

Like a lot of the running topics that I supposedly update, I've gotten really bad about updating my move reviews, if that's what they are, here.  Not sure why.

Anyhow, this is the move that I've most recently seen at the actual theater. There were a couple of others I intended to go see but didn't, so I've not only gotten bad about my reviews, but even about seeing the films. So, other than work, it seems, I'm not getting out much.

Hmmm. . . .

Anyhow, this film is an excellent look at the tense days following the British evacuation from Dunkirk in 1940, which itself was the topic of an excellent 2017 movie.   This film covers the evacuation as well, but more than that its a tense study of Winston Churchill's rise to power in the crisis and his immediate reaction to it.

It's superb.

Gary Oldman does an amazing job of portraying Churchill in the tense weeks in which he can legitimately be credited with saving the Allies from a complete collapse and surrender to Nazi Germany.  The movie accurately portrays Churchill's peculiar character, something that would be more than a little difficult to do.  It also very nicely shows the central role in the decision making process that lead to the British staying in the war when it was far from certain that they would.

All in all, this is an excellent historical drama that takes very few liberties with the facts.  In terms of material details it has things right, but it's mostly an indoor drama (which nonetheless must pay attention to details to be correct).  It's an excellent portrayal.  Interestingly, it's also one of two British World War Two dramas that were big budget major films this year that did well in the United States and which are completely focused on British, not American, topics. Something that is very much the exception to the rule.  Highly recommended.


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