Joe Wright is back in form. After the disaster that was Pan, he delivers his most satisfying drama since 2007's Atonement. Stripping away the fabulous style of Anna Karenina, here he pares the story to its core and allows the artistic integrity of his artists to shine.
The story concerns Winston Churchill in the early days of his prime minister-ship in what would come to be known as "The Darkest Hour". Britain is under imminent threat of invasion by Hitler's troops, and the government is reaching a breaking point. Political games and schemes riddle Parliament, where the parties are sharply divided between pushing for peace talks and aggressive warfare. Enter Churchill, the eccentric wild card to presumably help bridge the political gap and deliver a nation in crisis, who radically subverts expectations and ultimately leads his nation through the hell of war.
Like other successful biopics -- The Iron Lady, The Queen, and even this year's Victoria and Abdul come immediately to mind -- the goal here is not necessarily to lionize the protagonist, though it is arguably an inevitable end for some audiences. It is, rather, to mine the complexities of people in power and present them in a fresh and humane fashion. Churchill's politics and beliefs aside, the film demands that we think critically about him but also sympathize with his position. It also, and far more surprising to me, includes at its climax a magnificent scene of Churchill in the London Underground, asking diverse citizens their opinions on the war and politics and morale. A rousing enough scene, he then marches into Parliament and galvanizes the entire room, proclaiming "We shall fight on the beaches" in his now famous speech.
However average audiences leave the theater -- apparently largely happy with the movie and praising Churchill, for better or worse -- I hope they pay attention to that scene on the train. It's a direct assault on the Trump administration, as Wright himself has suggested the film is. What will resonate, though, is Gary Oldman's masterful performance as the main man. His typically brilliant, chameleonic craft is on full display here, and he disappears so fully into the role that I often forgot who was on screen. It's one of those dazzling performances that come once every few years, where so much heart and intelligence went into every single look, line, and sigh, that I cannot fathom the mind who delivers it. It's basically like every single Meryl Streep performance. The difference is that Oldman is so often a secondary character that he doesn't take the spotlight. But here he is, in all his glory, and let's just pray this is his year for a damn Oscar.
The other players fit in nicely, including (a personal favorite) Kristin Scott Thomas as Mrs. Churchill and an awesome Lily James as Churchill's secretary. Ben Mendelsohn steals his scenes, however, as a pitch-perfect George VI, with some really nice voice work to rival Oldman's. Beyond the actors, though, the film is a taut exercise in properly thrilling drama, especially when you consider the various genres employed. Political thrills, old age drama, war, and history combine in a seemingly seamless tapestry, and we move at a brisk pace with a sense of thrumming urgency, helped along by large dates scrolling by and the score, which often includes musical ticking, as of a clock. Most impressive to me was Bruno Delbonnel's (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Inside Llewyn Davis, Big Eyes) cinematography, which sharply focuses on faces but seems more interested in impressionistic lighting tricks and fluid movement. In a movie titled after darkness, it seems only appropriate that the film should visually read as a meditation on the interplay between light and shadow, and this picture does not disappoint.
Finally, the film creates a second pairing of movies this year. After the curious and awesome doubling of Wonder Woman and Professor Marston and the Wonder Women, we now have the no less interesting combination of Dunkirk and Darkest Hour. It's appropriate because the large middle act of this film concerns Operation Dynamo and the evacuation, though almost all of it remains limited in scope to private chambers and political arenas. This pairing also highlights the infuriating discrepancy between the war experience of soldiers on the front lines and of the old men who bicker and squabble for power in absolute safety.
IMDb: Darkest Hour
No comments:
Post a Comment