The Darkest Hour

The Darkest Hour                                                                                             December 13, 2017

This movie will be challenging for American audiences. I am the tail end of the baby boomers generation and I think following generations will have less knowledge, or care about, WWII and foreign leaders. I do not mean to malign anyone, but I do not think millennials and their cohorts will be much interested in this movie. To date the box office is disappointing.

Gary Oldman resembles Winston Churchill as much as I resemble Dwayne Johnson (more body than face). Oldman’s transformation to Churchill results from copious application of makeup and prosthetics. My problem with this movie is the heavy emphasis on imitation. Accents (which are so important in defining class in England) and distinctive speech patterns were as critical as make up. Churchill had an unmistakable voice in tone and cadence. Oldman got it close.

The movie captures Churchill’s idiosyncrasies. Cigars perpetually in his mouth; whisky at breakfast, champagne at lunch and whisky in the evening. He preferred to walk barefoot at home and wears matching his and hers pink bathrobes with monogram.  I think all this emphasis on replication takes away from the performance. The film tilts towards caricature. When Danial Day Lewis played Lincoln, he did it without affectations; he became Lincoln.

The movie’s topic is 75 years in the past. The darkest hour has a dual meaning. It was a critical period for England with Europe capitulating to the Nazis and England on the verge of negotiating for peace. For Churchill his premiership was under attack from his own party. Certain licenses were than with historical facts.

The supporting cast is even more esoteric: Neville Chamberlain (the Great Appeaser), Lord Halifax (Foreign Secretary) and King George VI (same king from The King’s Speech) have critical roles. The movie gets deep into the weeds with terms of surrender, the Dunkirk disaster and the failure to get military help from America.

My review is going against popular opinion. Oldman already has a Golden Globe best actor nomination and most likely he will get an Oscar nomination. The life of a critic is perilous.