No less than the third film this year to focus on the World
War II evacuation of Dunkirk, “Darkest Hour” is the straightforward historical
drama counterpoint to Christopher Nolan’s action-oriented “Dunkirk” and the
crowd-pleasing melodrama of Lone Scherfig’s “Their
Finest.”
“Darkest
Hour” comes from director Joe Wright (who previously dramatized the evacuation
in a show-stopping, five-minute, single take sequence for his film,
“Atonement”), and it especially makes an excellent companion piece to Nolan’s
telling. Filling in the other side of Operation Dynamo — which recruited a
civilian fleet to evacuate Allied troops from the French coast after they’d
been surrounded by German forces — the film gives us the perspective of its
mastermind, Winston Churchill, played here by Gary Oldman.
Beginning on
May 1940, when Churchill replaced Neville Chamberlain (Ronald Pickup) as Prime
Minister of the United Kingdom, the film chronicles Churchill’s first month in
power. In this relatively short but critical period, Churchill is forced to
quickly prove his mettle as a world leader: facing a devastating war, his
country needs to be mobilized in the long battle to defeat the Nazi scourge.
Germany’s
invasion seems imminent, and with Chamberlain and Viscount Halifax imploring
him to enter peace negotiations with Hitler, Churchill faces immense pressure
from all sides. Wright visualizes this by repeatedly isolating Oldman within
boxes in the frame, surrounded on all sides by darkness. Throughout, he finds
moments to showcase the type of gliding camerawork and flashy visual flourishes
the filmmaker has become known for.
As with all
of Wright’s films, “Darkest Hour” is made with impeccable technical precision
and skill. The shadowy, often nearly black-and-white cinematography by Bruno Delbonnel gives the film an elegant polish. The score by
Dario Marianelli consistently finds the right tone,
alternating between quiet melancholy and dramatic bombast.
Anthony McCarten’s screenplay is intelligently written, misstepping only during one silly (and entirely invented)
scene in which Churchill rides the Underground to poll the everyday British
folk he encounters on whether to engage in peace talks with Hitler. Naturally,
they implore him to fight on.
But the
movie belongs to Oldman, who manages an impressive disappearing act, buried
under layers of prosthetics (the distinctive jowls were created by makeup
artist Kazuhiro Tsuji, whose work is undeniably impressive). Astonishing
physical transformation aside, the actor captures Churchill’s blustery
demeanor, as well as his shrewd intelligence and wit.
Churchill
had the instincts of a skilled performer, capable of swaying a crowd with the
power of his oratorical skill and fiery rhetoric. Oldman delivers those
stirring speeches with aplomb, and as the film progresses it becomes an
exploration of the way that words themselves can be weaponized in the fight
against tyranny.
Though
“Darkest Hour” is Oldman’s show, a few supporting players do their best to make
an impression, some with more success than others. Lily James serves as the
audience conduit into this world of backroom politics, playing Churchill’s
timid new typist, Elizabeth Layton. James gives a fine performance, but her
character doesn’t serve much purpose beyond the purely functional. Ben
Mendelsohn is also quite good as King George VI, who makes no attempt to hide
his wariness of Churchill during their required meetings together.
Strongest
among the lot is Kristin Scott Thomas as Churchill’s wife, Clementine. In too
many of these sort of Great Man biopics, the wife role feels superfluous, but
even with little screen time, Scott Thomas brings life to her character. Though
she long ago made peace with coming in second to her husband’s political
career, Clementine is every bit his equal. The scenes of them together, as she
provides a sounding board for Churchill to plan his next move, are among the
film’s best.
Part of the
challenge on historical dramas like “Darkest Hour” is finding a way to make
events that are already preordained feel dramatic and urgent, but Wright and McCarten never quite accomplish that here. Of all the movies
to feature in this year’s awards conversation, “Darkest Hour” feels the most
conventional. Not to imply that those discussions are the be-all and end-all of
determining a film’s quality, but this feels like a movie designed to win
awards, albeit a very good version of that type of movie. Powered by Gary
Oldman’s excellent performance, “Darkest Hour” is sturdy, stylish and
sporadically rousing filmmaking — it’s just not terribly exciting.
This article appears in Dec 13-19, 2017.
