The Darkest Hour Movie 2011
Magdalena Liendo
Darkest Hour is a 2017 British biographical war drama film about Winston Churchill, played by Gary Oldman, in his early days as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during the Second World War and the May 1940 war cabinet crisis, depicting his refusal to seek a peace treaty with Nazi Germany amid their advance into Western Europe. The film is directed by Joe Wright and written by Anthony McCarten. Along with Oldman, the cast includes Kristin Scott Thomas as Clementine Churchill, Lily James as Elizabeth Layton, Stephen Dillane as Viscount Halifax, Ronald Pickup as Neville Chamberlain, and Ben Mendelsohn as King George VI. The title of the film refers to a phrase describing the early days of the war, which has been widely attributed to Churchill.
In May 1940, the opposition Labour Party in Parliament demand the resignation of British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain for being too weak in the face of the Nazi onslaught. Conservative Party colleagues want Lord Halifax as his successor, but Halifax does not feel it is his time. Chamberlain chooses the only man whom the opposition parties will accept as the leader of a national government: Winston Churchill, the First Lord of the Admiralty, who correctly predicted the danger from Adolf Hitler before the war but has a poor reputation in Parliament because of his role in the disastrous Gallipoli campaign, his views on India, the Russian Civil War, The Gold Standard, his record in the Admiralty and his past defection from the Liberal Party. As Germany invades the Low Countries, Churchill is brusque with his new secretary Elizabeth Layton for mishearing him, which earns him a rebuke from his wife Clementine. King George VI, who is skeptical of Churchill due to his actions during the abdication crisis, reluctantly invites him to form a government. Churchill includes Chamberlain (as Lord President of the Council) and Halifax (as Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs).
Parliament reacts coolly to Churchill's first speech promising "Blood, toil, tears, and sweat". Chamberlain and Halifax are appalled by Churchill's refusal to negotiate for peace and plan to resign from the government to force a vote of no confidence, creating a situation in which Halifax would likely become Prime Minister. Churchill visits French Prime Minister Paul Reynaud, who thinks that Churchill is delusional for not admitting that the Allies are losing the Battle of France, while Churchill is furious that the French do not have a plan to counterattack. Although US President Franklin Roosevelt is sympathetic to Churchill's plight, his actions are limited by an isolationist Congress and the Neutrality Acts. Churchill draws ire from his cabinet and advisers for delivering a radio address in which he falsely implies the Allies to be advancing in France, earning him a rebuke from the king. Halifax and Chamberlain continue to push to use Italian Ambassador Giuseppe Bastianini as an intermediary with Germany.
The British Expeditionary Force is trapped at Dunkirk and Calais, and Britain begins preparing for a German invasion. Against the advice of the War Cabinet, Churchill orders Brigadier Nicholson in Calais to lead the 30th Infantry Brigade to distract the enemy and buy time for the evacuation of soldiers from Dunkirk. The debacle in France causes the War Cabinet to support negotiating with Germany. Under heavy pressure, Churchill agrees to consider a negotiated peace, but chokes on the words as he tries to dictate a letter requesting talks.
George VI unexpectedly visits Churchill, explaining that he has come to support Churchill to continue the war. Churchill's idea to have "civilian boats" evacuate troops from Dunkirk, Operation Dynamo, is initiated. Still uncertain, Churchill impulsively rides the London Underground (for the first time in his life) and asks startled passengers their opinions; they all want to continue to fight Hitler. Churchill addresses the Outer Cabinet and other members of parliament and finds they, too, have little or no desire to surrender. As Churchill prepares to address Parliament, Halifax asks Chamberlain to continue with their plan to resign, but Chamberlain decides first to listen to the address. Finishing his speech, Churchill proclaims "we shall fight on the beaches" should the Germans invade, to resounding support from the Opposition, while the Tory MPs behind him sit silently, until Chamberlain mops his brow with his handkerchief, a prearranged signal that they should support the PM. Churchill exits the Chamber to cheers and enthusiastic waving of Order Papers.
On 5 February 2015, it was announced that Working Title Films had acquired Darkest Hour, a speculative screenplay by The Theory of Everything screenwriter Anthony McCarten, about Winston Churchill in the early days of the Second World War.[11]
On 29 March 2016, it was reported that Joe Wright was in talks to direct the film.[12] In April 2016, Gary Oldman was reported to be in talks to play Churchill.[13] On 6 September 2016, it was announced that Focus Features would release the film in the United States on 24 November 2017, while Ben Mendelsohn was set to play King George VI and Kristin Scott Thomas was cast as Clementine Churchill.[8] On 8 November 2016, Stephen Dillane joined the cast.[14] John Hurt was initially cast as Neville Chamberlain, but dropped the role in pre-production as he was undergoing treatment for pancreatic cancer; Hurt died in January 2017.[15][16] Ronald Pickup assumed the role of Chamberlain instead.[17]
By November 2016, Darkest Hour had begun principal photography,[18] and it was reported that Dario Marianelli would score the film.[19] For his role as Churchill, Oldman spent over 200 hours having make-up applied, and smoked over 400 cigars (worth about $20,000) during filming.[20][4] Filming took place in Manchester, England, at both the Town Hall and John Rylands Library, both doubling for the Houses of Parliament and featuring heavily in the film.[21]
For locations, the exterior of Chartwell House near Westerham, Kent (Churchill's actual country home), was used for the telegram sequence that sees Churchill's secretary Elizabeth Layton receive a telegram from Buckingham Palace. Fort Amherst in Kent featured as the location for both General Ramsay's Operations HQ and the Calais Garrison. For the interior of Buckingham Palace, Wentworth Woodhouse in Wentworth, South Yorkshire, was used.[22]
Filming also took place at Warner Bros Leavesden Studios in Hertfordshire for the scene where Churchill gets onto the London Underground, with a 1959 stock train hired from Mangapps Railway Museum in Essex.
On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 84% based on 317 reviews, with an average score of 7.3/10; the site's "critics consensus" reads: "Darkest Hour is held together by Gary Oldman's electrifying performance, which brings Winston Churchill to life even when the movie's narrative falters."[29] On Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average rating to reviews, the film has a normalised score of 75 out of 100, based on 50 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[30] PostTrak reported that over 90% of audience members gave the film a rating of either "excellent" or "very good".[24]
Oldman was praised for his performance, with numerous critics labelling him a frontrunner to win the Academy Award for Best Actor, which he went on to win.[31] Peter Travers of Rolling Stone wrote: "Get busy engraving Oldman's name on an Oscar... those fearing that Darkest Hour is nothing but a dull tableau of blowhard stuffed shirts will be relieved to know that they're in for a lively, provocative historical drama that runs on its own nonstop creative fire".[32] David Ehrlich of IndieWire praised Wright's direction and the musical score, writing: "Unfolding with the clockwork precision of a Broadway play... it's a deliciously unsubtle testament to the power of words and their infinite capacity to inspire".[33] Damon Wise of the Radio Times described the film as a "near-perfect companion piece" to Dunkirk, concluding: "Wright's forceful direction depicts not so much a hero as a principled man snatching victory from the jaws of defeat. Certain engineered Hollywood moments dilute the overall impact, including a twee meet and greet on a Tube train, but Oldman is never less than sensational."[34]
Writing in Slate, historian and academic John Broich called Darkest Hour "a piece of historical fiction that undertakes a serious historical task", presenting the British decision to fight Hitler as a choice rather than an inevitability. The situation in 1940 was as dire as depicted, but liberties were taken with the facts. The shouting matches over possible peace negotiations are a dramatic exaggeration of the May 1940 War Cabinet Crisis. Churchill's journey on the London Underground was also fictional, and there is evidence that many British people were not immediately inspired by his speeches.[39]
There is no conclusive evidence that Chamberlain and Viscount Halifax were planning an imminent vote of no confidence, though that threat existed until the mid-war victories in North Africa. It is a fact that Churchill was an object of suspicion for his fellow Tories.[39] The Labour Party confirmed that they would serve in a national government under a leader other than Chamberlain, but would have been prepared to serve under Halifax.[40]
Elizabeth Layton did not become Churchill's secretary until a year after the events of the film. She also tells Churchill that her brother was killed during the retreat to Dunkirk, which is a fictional detail.[47]
From this principle comes the Darkest Hour line, inspired by Sir Winston Churchill, one of the greatest men in contemporary history. Winston was a watch lover: many of his pocket watches were incredibly similar to those produced on Regent Street by David Stewart Dawson. The Lord of the Admiralty knew how to mark the time of the resistance of the Allies perfectly, just as the ETA (or SELLITA) Swiss movement that beats in the 42mm steel case of this collection, with an autonomy of 38 hours of charge, marks the time without error.
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