'Darkest Hour' Review
Darkest Hour - 7/10
A movie that military strategy fanatics are going to love. A true story about the Churchill leadership during WWII with some unknown details of the backstage English politics with Gary Oldman in a life time performance.
Churchill, a man that never gained consensus in England because of his obsessive military policy is for the first time seen as more than a prime minister, now we can look for the human side of the man that was mainly responsible for the Dunkirk operation. In this movie we get a closer look in his relationship with his strong minded wife, the awkwardness of the dialogues with the king or his eccentric personality revealed just for his closest allies.
Gary Oldman, the favourite for the Oscar’s of best actor has the capacity to make the viewer think about the duality between the lovely old man that stays at home in underwear or the strategic mind and cabinet leader that look for the lost life’s as a "pure statistic".
Gary Oldman´s character reminds me a little bit of Anthony Hopkins performance in "Hitchcock", both of them anatomically and psychologically are very close and the gestures made by Gary Oldman seemed to have the genial influence of Hopkins. The true feeling that Oldman put in every single detail of this movie is mesmerizing. Scenes like the meeting with the French representative or the subway dialogue are simply delicious pieces of cinema.
Thus, this film has wonderful technic details, for example the illumination of the scenarios with permanent use of shadows gives the movie a 'noir' essence that matches the darkness of the II WW period as well as the lack of a definition of power marks the transition for Churchill's emergency with the indiscreet opposition of Chamberlain and Halifax.
For the historical and political movie fanatics, you should before this movie see "Dunkirk" (2017), to have the complete picture of this decisive moment of history replicated in both movies in different perspectives.
Once again, with well thought out steps Joe Wright claims a shining position in Hollywood as one of the most influential directors of this historical biography or historical adaptation genre that make us wonder for the results in Academy awards and for the release of his next movie trailer.
Thanks once again to Mr. Piracy
Signed,
B
