Gary Oldman’s portrayal of Winston Churchill is sensational
Darkest Hour is meant to be the perfect companion to Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk: the film, directed by Joe Wright, is in fact a sort of prelude of what happened in England right before the evacuation of Dunkerque. That operation, also known as Operation Dynamo, was led by Winston Churchill, the man who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945 and again from 1951 to 1955.
Written by Anthony McCarten, the film stars a sensational Gary Oldman in the role of the british politician, with the actor receiving the first nomination at the Oscars for his performance.
The film starts in May 1940: the opposition Labour Party demands the resignation of British Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain, for reacting weakly to the Nazi attack during the Second World War. Chamberlain asks the Conservative Party to choose Lord Halifax as his successor, but he’s not ready to become Prime Minister. As a consequence, Chamberlain is forced to choose the only man who has a chance to get the support of the other parties: Winston Churchill, First Lord of the Admiralty.
Churchill is an unorthodox politician, a quick-tempered man who struggles to conquer even the approval of his own party, the trust of King George VI and his mandate starts in the middle of a crisis.
In the first part of Darkest Hour, Joe Wright emphasizes Churchill’s obsessions and weaknesses: his bad manners, his drunkenness, his constant need of his wife, Clementine. We get to know the man long before we meet the politician behind the success of Operation Dynamo. In the second part of the film, Churchill has to choose between negotiating with Hitler or sending the 30th Infantry Brigade in a suicide mission to distract the enemy while the soldiers trapped at Dunkirk are evacuated. The decision is hard to make, but after hours of doubt he opts for the second choice, against the advice of the War Cabinet. We see an insecure man turning into a determined politician when he says: “You cannot reason with a tiger when your head is in its mouth”.
Darkest Hour is a well written film and everything is designed and calculated to make Gary Oldman shine. Even the title is intentional: dark is the moment Churchill went through, dark is the War Cabinet and the House of Commons where he confronts his opponents, dark is Buckingham Palace, the background of his meetings with King George VI. The british politician appears as the only light in a time of darkness. The supporting cast of the film includes Kristin Scott Thomas, Lily James and Ben Mendelsohn.
Gary Oldman performance as Winston Churchill is spot-on and it’s for sure his best one so far. Unfortunately, there’s one (but big) obstacle between him and golden statue: Daniel Day-Lewis. Recently, the actor announced his retirement and his last performance in Paul Thomas Anderson’s Phantom Thread would be worth the prize.
However, Oldman has already won a Golden Globe for Darkest Hour and his career speaks itself: this would be a great time to give him a well deserved Oscar to add to his award collection.
