TELLURIDE – A little less than three weeks from the publication of this review John Lithgow is expected to win an Emmy for his portrayal of Winston Churchill in the Netflix series “The Crown.” Earlier this year Brian Cox earned positive notices for his own interpretation of the legendary British Prime Minister in the appropriately titled “Churchill.” In fact, Churchill appears in some form or another a few times a year and talents such as Brendan Gleeson, Albert Finney, Bob Hoskins, John Houseman and Richard Burton have tried to capture the once in a lifetime charisma of this historical figure on the big or small screen. No disrespect to those men’s talents, but all their work will soon be secondary to Gary Oldman’s transformative performance in Joe Wright’s new drama “Darkest Hour” which premiered at the 2017 Telluride Film Festival on Friday.
What makes Oldman’s work here so impressive is the almost invisible emotional arc he is able to fashion as Anthony McCarten’s screenplay carefully unfolds. It’s 1940 and Britain is losing the battle to stop Hitler’s hostile annexation of Europe. With Nazis perilously close to invading England, the current PM and peace-advocate Neville Chamberlin (Ronald Pickup) loses the confidence of Parliament and is forced to resign. Despite being unpopular within his own party, Churchill, a longtime UK political figure, somehow gets his shot at leading the nation at its most perilous point because of the support of the opposition party. That being said King George VI (Ben Mendelsohn, fantastic) doesn’t trust him and his party’s original choice to replace Chamberlin, Viscount Halifax (Stephen Dillane, slightly one note but effective), is out to undermine him at every turn.
Historians will tell you Churchill certainly was guilty of making initial mistakes when he took power and Wright and McCarten smartly use those facts to their advantage. The film chronicles Churchill’s initial belief in keeping Germany’s advances as quiet as possible in order to avoid panicking the British people, but that lie only angers his political rivals. Moreover, by stacking his War Cabinet with said political rivals creates an unruly mechanism (thanks mostly to Halifax) in which to carry out military operations and strategy. It’s when his idea to recruit civilian ships to help rescue the 300,000 stranded troops at Dunkirk comes to fruition that he begins to see a road to bring not only the nation’s warring political factions, but its people together (and yes, in many ways the film is a nice historical companion to Christopher Nolan’s own epic).
In the wrong hands though “Darkest Hour” could have been a staid affair played out cinematically in a classic, but increasingly familiar style. Wright, who has had a visionary eye since his first film, “Pride and Prejudice,” creates some inspired staging and uses a bird’s eye perspective motif multiple times. That keeps the political back and forth that takes place in underground bunkers and familiar period drawing rooms from turning the picture into a well acted slog. Granted, there are times when you wish McCarten had found a way to condense more of the story, but Wright is keenly aware of history’s shortcomings and keeps the pace moving as quickly as he can. The filmmaker also collaborates with Oldman to bring some unexpectedly emotional moments to the proceedings.
In one particular sequence, and much to the surprise of the Underground’s regular riders, Churchill decides to take the train to Parliament for the first time. Churchill quizzes the people he meets on whether the country should negotiate a peace treaty or fight for control of their island. As each rider voices their anger that anyone would succumb to Hitler, a young girl punctuates their feelings saying they should fight and it brings the PM to tears. What could have seemed schmaltzy instead is inspiring and if it can stir the feelings of residents on this side of the Atlantic, the significance to British viewers should increase one hundred fold.
Another significant scene finds Churchill dictating a speech with his quiet, but loyal typist Elizabeth Layton (Lily James, never better). When he sees a photo on her desk of a British soldier Churchill assumes it’s her beau. Instead, Layton reveals its her brother who was fighting in France and never made it back to the relative safety of Dunkirk. This revelation stops Churchill in his tracks as the human toll of the war begins to truly wear him down. It’s a moving moment that Wright lets breathe to expert effect giving Oldman yet another opportunity to shine.
Some of the director’s success, however, is obviously due to his fine crew. After years of working with Seamus McGarvey the director finds another strong visual collaborator in cinematographer Bruno Delbonnel while production designer Sarah Greenwood finds new ways to bring this familiar WWII era to life. This is the fourth movie Wright and Dario Marianelli have worked on together (Marianelli won an Oscar for “Atonement”) and while it may not be as distinctly memorable as their previous films the Italian composer contributions cannot be discounted.
No matter what McCarten or Wright might have tried “Darkest Hour” wouldn’t hit its soaring highs without Oldman in the title role. What makes this so remarkable is Oldman wore a tremendous amount of special effects makeup to transform into Churchill. The process turned the somewhat slight actor into the overweight and imposing figure that’s easily recognizable from any photo or archived newsreel. Many actors would have gotten lost under all that foam latex, but Oldman is so possessed you completely forget its even there. And more so, his ability to subtly convey Churchill’s pain, insecurity and, at times, quiet fear under this apparatus is almost unfathomable.
Few would argue that Oldman isn’t one of the finest actors of his generation, but this is a tour de force portrayal that will define his body of work for decades to come. And when you take account those countless portrayals over the years this makes the film and Oldman’s performance something extraordinary. [A-/B+]
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