Gary Oldman and the movie ‘Darkest Hour’

Winner of two Academy Awards, the movie Darkest Hour (2017) was on our viewing menu this weekend. In addition to an Oscar for makeup and hairstyling, lead actor Gary Oldman won the Academy Award for Best Actor in portraying Winston Churchill in Churchill‘s first ascension to Prime Minister of the United Kingdom followed by the period leading that kingdom through the trying days of the Dunkirk Evacuation with Operation Dynamo.

(Gary Oldman as Winston Churchill in Darkest Hour).

The beginning of Darkest Hour portrayed Britain’s 1940 War Cabinet Crisis with a session of Parliament wherein sitting Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain is invited to leave his post. In the immediate aftermath we learn that the new role of Prime Minister was desired by Viscount Halifax (aka Edward Frederick Lindley Wood) though the leadership role is offered to Winston Churchill (as portrayed by Oldman), who accepts his appointment.

(Kristin Scott Thomas as Clementine Churchill in Darkest Hour).

Winston Churchill ascends to power in a weakened state as far as the support of parliament and the king. Much of Churchill‘s doubts while he assesses his ability to lead against the factions who support surrendering to the Axis Powers of World War Two are assuaged through comfort and guidance offered by his wife, Clementine Churchill. Kristin Scott Thomas portrayed Clementine (Clemmie) Churchill.

(Ben Mendelsohn as King George VI in Darkest Hour).

Initially in Churchill‘s first tenure as Prime Minister, King George VI as portrayed by Ben Mendolsohn admits to Churchill that Churchill‘s temperament as a leader is frightening to the king for its directness, forthrightness, and bleak assessment of the dire situation that the United Kingdom and Europe found itself in when Churchill took power. This fear does not decline over the course of film Darkest Hour, though things thaw in the matter of days covered within the almost dramatized documentary quality of the film in the days leading to Operation Dynamo.

(Ronald Pickup as Neville Chamberlain in Darkest Hour).

Ronald Pickup stars as former Primer Minister Neville Chamberlain in Darkest Hour. Beyond his advocacy of a negotiated surrender with the Axis Powers, Chamberlain remained on the War Cabinet as part of Churchill’s negotiated ascension to Prime Minister. His advice continued to steadfastly recommend pacifying the Axis Powers, which directly countered the view held by Churchill and others in the cabinet. Along with Viscount Halifax, as portrayed by Stephen Dillane, Chamberlain pressed his agenda of the negotiated peace through much of the film.

(Stephen Dillane as Viscount Halifax in Darkest Hour).

Elizabeth Layton, as portrayed by Lily James, served as Winston Churchill‘s secretary, personal assistant, and in a way as Churchill‘s workplace muse. As the pressure to hold onto his Prime Minister role was at a crisis point owing to Halifax and Chamberlain pressuring their resignation from the war cabinet if Churchill wouldn’t negotiate a peace, King George VI suggested taking council from the typically silent people of the United Kingdom in forging the way forward. The way forward was fighting and a successful Operation Dynamo. Churchill first took his case to Layton, and then the subway system, in coming to his determined path forward to resolutely reject the pressure of negotiated peace.

(Lily James as Elizabeth Layton in Darkest Hour).

It was in the advice to consult the public and further resolve to Operation Dynamo that Winston Churchill won over a doubtful Parliament and went on to serve a lengthy first term as Prime Minister. Upon deciding to take the course against a negotiated peace, Churchill gave a major address to parliament that won over the opposing parties of the governing body of the United Kingdom and won the plurality for ruling that would see the Allied Powers through the rest of World War Two.

(Joe Wright directed Darkest Hour).

Shortly after Churchill spoke to Parliament and the governing plurality was won, Operation Dynamo was a success. Within months, Neville Chamberlain would die of the cancer that he had from the point where the movie had begun in May of 1940. Viscount Halifax would leave the War Cabinet and become British Ambassador to the United States in December 1940.

(Anthony McCarten wrote the screenplay for Darkest Hour).

For a dramatized documentary of the events of the War Cabinet Crisis of 1940 that culminated with Operation Dynamo, Darkest Hour offered some sense of intrigue and suspense. Having been familiar with history as well as having recently seen Dunkirk (2017) as reviewed here, we knew how the larger story was going to turn out well. This movie still gets good marks for achieving something interesting and informative. For that, we rate Darkest Hour at 3.75-stars on a scale of one-to-five stars.

Matt – Saturday, April 27, 2019

Christopher Nolan’s ‘Dunkirk’ succeeds, for men

Christopher Nolan makes quality films. Three-time Academy Award winner Dunkirk (2017) is the most recent example that I had the opportunity to screen with both pleasure and appreciation. With five other Oscar nominations to its credit, take this as evidence that the world is standing up and taking notice.

The Dunkirk Evacuation as a historic event reflects the evacuation of primarily the British Expeditionary Force, along with some intermingling of the other Allied troops, from the French seaport of Dunkirk (spelled Dunkerque in France) to England in May and June of 1940. At this point in the war, the United States was not supplying troops, sailors, airmen or other combat support. (The USA would become involved after the Japanese invasion of Pearl Harbor in December 1941).

Using his characteristically complex movie-telling style, Nolan tells three main stories intermingled with one another. Those three events included events the beaches of Dunkirk, the civilian fishing ships and ferries crossing the channel, and the Royal Air Force pilots of the United Kingdom battling the German Luftwaffe in the skies above and surrounding the seaport town of Dunkirk.

(Kenneth Branagh)

Largely using age appropriate actors to fill the ranks of the military branches represented in the film, the film is largely inhabited by actors that are lesser known. The most well-known actor in the lot is likely Kenneth Branagh, who besides playing Commander Bolton in Dunkirk has acted in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002) and multiple productions based on the writings of William Shakepaere. Mark Rylance as Mr. Dawson, one of the small boat captains at the heart of Operation Dynamo,

(Mark Rylance)

The film Dunkirk itself depicts a handful of personal stories in near real time. The directorial aim for the aim certainly seemed to be showing the reality of being in this place at this time in history. At the real history as well as in the film, the German army had surrounded the Allied forces to the point of potential surrender. Large naval ships could not pull into the harbor for being drafting too deeply. Had the forces been unable to vacate the seaport, the tide of the war could have swung to an irrevocable Axis advantage.

The experience of the movie Dunkirk is much less about war than Saving Private Ryan (1998), Apoczlypse Now (1979), or Platoon (1986). Dunkirk is the ensemble experience of surviving a military disaster to fight another day. That so much of the force survives is part of what makes the story remarkable. That the movie is told with a largely male audience in mind is also, perhaps, what made the movie one without sufficient crossover appeal to be the Academy Award winner for Best Picture.

(Christopher Nolan)

As the reviewer of the movie Dunkirk, it is confession worthy for myself that I originally saw this in a movie theater shortly after its release with a group of male friends. While we watched, the wives of the married folks in the group went shopping at the mall while waiting to join us for dinner. I had come from training earlier in the day. In another confession, I fell asleep in the theater. In watching the movie on Blu-Ray for this review, that disclosure probably isn’t fair to my level of enjoying the film.

My overall feeling is that the historical story of the Dunkirk Evacuation is worthy storytelling. My further belief is that the portrayal of said story in Dunkirk also passes muster if you are interested in larger projections of how history occurred. To me, that there wasn’t a love story attached to the telling is not fatal. If you would prefer that, then I might suggest seeing Pearl Harbor (2001) instead. My preference, given these two, is Dunkirk.

Matt – Saturday, March 10, 2018