Darkest Hour (2017)

DARKEST HOUR  (2017)  ¢ ¢ ¢ 1/2
    D: Joe Wright
    Gary Oldman, Kristin Scott thomas, Lily James,
    Ben Mendelsohn, Ronald Pickup, Stephen Dillane,
    Samuel West, David Schonfield, Nicholas Jones
A dramatized history lesson covering three critical weeks in the chronicle of World War Two and the life and career of Winston Churchill. It's 1940, and the movie starts with Churchill's elevation to prime minister, against the wishes of practically everybody. The Germans are smashing through France, Belgium and Holland, and the entire British army is about to be wiped out unless somebody can figure out how to get 300,000 men off the beach at Dunkirk. The old prime minister, Neville Chamberlain, still believes the best way to avert annihilation is to work out a peace deal (again) with Hitler. Churchill doesn't see it that way. It's going to be a hectic three weeks. Gary Oldman got an Oscar playing Churchill, doing justice to the inevitable stereotype, while finding the humor and humanity behind the gruff, bulldog image. Whether addressing Parliament, growling at his secretary (Lily James), taking an unscheduled ride on the tube, or just padding around the house in his bathrobe, Churchill is never not in command, and it's the same with Oldman. If it's hard to recognize the actor under all the prosthetic makeup, consider that this is the same guy who (with a lot less makeup) was just as convincing as Sid Vicious and Lee Harvey Oswald. Nobody seems to do that sort of disappearing act better than Gary Oldman.