Galvanizing voice: Gary Oldman plays Winston Churchill in Darkest Hour.

Winston Churchill liked his cigars.

In 1940, the Dutch, Danes and Belgians longed for mercy from the Germans. The days until Germany’s invasion of England were numbered. The British prime minister — Neville Chamberlain (Ronald Pickup) — was voted out of the job. Britain lived under a paranoia that felt permanent, but boy did he like those cigars.

Cigars, of course, weren’t the only thing that made Winston Churchill. After all, he had nothing to offer the British Parliament but his “blood, toil, tears and sweat” — his promise to bring security to the island he served never betrayed his brutish veneer. When he spoke, he veered from huffing to shouting. As the prime minister during the time when Nazi Germany had their next target cold, Churchill faced trying ordeals from the outside and within. 

Director Joe Wright’s Darkest Hour captures this piece of history and triumph with dramatic flair. Strip the film of its historical elements and you’ll find one suspenseful flick with power struggles in the form of Lord Halifax (Stephen Dillane) and Neville Chamberlain (Ronald Pickup), strong cinematography and a rousing score (Dario Marianelli). I particularly enjoyed the use of footage of troops at the beginning, signalling a war, and the micro-repercussions in the form of the shouting matches that transpired mostly in Westminster that followed. 

Regardless of how accurate the film is, Darkest Hour talks big. Writers have written it, written about it, and diarists have fashioned their entries accordingly, but Darkest Hour doesn’t try to educate you on the history — it needs no reassurance of your prior knowledge about the events of the war. You probably know of Operation Dynamo or the Dunkirk evacuation already — when allied troops, stranded on Dunkirk beach, awaited evacuation, seeking safety from the German Luftwaffe.

But did you know that when Churchill ordered the operation, he did so while, as the man in the film says it, “terrified” of the larger outcome? This is what Darkest Hour captures best. It offers a look into Churchill’s psyche in a way that feels particular to his temperament, to England’s temperament and to the politics of the days of old.

All of this is largely thanks to Gary Oldman’s portrayal of the man. The emotions displayed by him in the film are sumptuously wide-ranging — and Oldman sells all of them. He can be a curmudgeon, yelling at his secretary (Elizabeth Layton, played by Lily James), but he can also be doubtful of himself. As Clementine Churchill, played wonderfully by Kristin Scott Thomas, says in the film, “You are strong because you are imperfect. You are wise because you have doubts.” And then there are the speeches — each word landing like thunder, a rude awakening.

What Darkest Hour is also successful at is showing the interiority of the politics and its practitioners during the war. The film doesn’t really concern itself with the well-being of the people. It’s heavy on complicated strategizing. After all, the film’s premise boils down to the nation’s decision to enter into peace talks with Germany — Churchill is apprehensive about how faithful the Germans will be in upholding their end of the bargain; both Halifax and Chamberlain want to push through. Hell, even Chamberlain gets cold feet in the end.

At times, the movie can seem a little cloying. There’s this vibrant, we-shall-never-surrender optimism that feels oddly unchecked. There’s a scene where Churchill rides the London Underground to gauge the opinions on matters in Westminster from the working class people, who are otherwise invisible for 95 percent of the movie. There’s your answer, sir. Take it up with the parliament and don’t forget to write down your speech.

Ultimately, as a piece of historical fiction, the movie is a decent look into the characters that acted under the command of the war outside their windows. Wars, at the end of the day, change people. But as Winston Churchill in the film puts it, “those who never change their mind never change anything.”

— Photos courtesy of Focus Features

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