Darkest Hour (2017) – is a fine cinema, that has captured one of the most important appointments of the last century – the appointment of Sir Winston Churchill as Prime Minister just before the war reached the shores of Britain. It shows the hours leading to his appointment, King’s reluctance to invite him to form the Government, the resistance he faces within his own war cabinet, winning King’s approval and finally to turning down a peace negotiation with Germany through Italy and declaring war.
The film starts with the scene of a young girl, a typist coming in for her first assignment to Mr Churchill’s room, only to come running down scared to death with his outburst. Director Joe Wright has skillfully continued with that typist throughout the film, to give an emotional connection to the present-day audience with Mr Churchill. Gary Oldman has done a brilliant performance as Winston Churchill and has rightfully deserved the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor he got for that. For a film that almost happens entirely in the parliament and the war room, the background score played a vital role in setting the mood of the bloody war that was waging outside in mainland Europe.
Watching this film, following last year’s Dunkirk (2017) by Christopher Nolan, has helped me to appreciate the events that happened in WWII. Downfall (2004) showed elegantly what happened in the last days of Adolf Hitler in that bunker, just like that, Darkest Hour shows what happened in the British parliament and their war room weeks before the war reached Britain. Don’t miss this film, watch it if you have a taste for history and politics.
Update: As of January 2020, the film is available on Netflix India.
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