OVP: Darkest Hour (2017)

Film: Darkest Hour (2017)
Stars: Gary Oldman, Ben Mendelsohn, Kristin Scott Thomas, Lily James, Ronald Pickup, Stephen Dillane
Director: Joe Wright
Oscar History: 6 nominations/2 wins (Picture, Actor-Gary Oldman*, Costume Design, Production Design, Makeup & Hairstyling*, Cinematography)
Snap Judgment Ranking: 4/5 stars

I always feel strange when I like a film that is pretty much the textbook definition of Oscar-bait.  Traditional films, ones that are in the Academy's wheelhouse are oftentimes criticized for being too staid, too "old, white, traditional," and because I watch so many Oscar-nominated movies, they tend to grow stale in my memory.  After all, you can only watch the same thing so many times before it becomes a bore (this is why the Marvel Cinematic Universe has started to tire me, and why I'm a bit apprehensive about my inevitable screening of Black Panther even with the raves).  That said, I am a firm believer that every genre can produce great or compelling cinema, and that includes even the most worn-out of Oscar films, the war biopic.  While by no means a masterpiece, Darkest Hour is still a worthwhile picture, with a brisk pace & two central performances that lend itself well to the film's ambience.

(If you need a spoiler alert, read a history book) It says something about how the movie industry may be tired, but is clearly not a monopoly (yet...give Disney time) in that we have two films about the Dunkirk invasion in the same year, nominated for Best Picture, but it does save me on telling you too much about the plot.  Suffice it to say Winston Churchill (Oldman) is about to enter the annals of history with a great speech & by saving Britain from Hitler.  The film ends just as World War II begins, with Churchill giving his iconic "We shall fight on the beaches" speech before Parliament, so we are saved a miniseries' worth of time with Churchill (this would have become overtired on HBO), but along-the-way we've had several interesting crisis-of-fate meetings, particularly between Churchill and King George VI (Mendelsohn).

If you think this is a story that you know by heart, you're probably right  Few personalities of the 20th Century loom larger than Churchill, and few give actors more ability to swing wildly for the rafters, landing bon mots and enjoying a taste of immortality for a few hours.  Just last year we had a memorable experience with John Lithgow playing Churchill in the final throes of his career in The Crown, so it's interesting to see what Oldman does and doesn't do in the lead role.  A brilliant if controversial actor, Oldman is too good to not add some flourishes on Churchill, but I like that he finds a nice balance between Churchill the man and Churchill the icon, leading with the icon instead of waiting for it during the moments where history made him one of the great beacons of the mid-century.  We slowly get to know Churchill the man through a series of confrontations he has with his new secretary Elizabeth Layton (James...whom I always confuse with Lily Collins until they start acting & I remember that James is the one with talent) and then as he starts to invade the upper-ranks of Parliament.  I loved some of the scenes where clearly Parliament hasn't realized that "the people" want something different than what we're expecting of them (but Churchill is more than aware of this), and the ways that Oldman slyly, mechanically, calculates in the moment.  It's hard to add something to a character so many people have played, and indeed Oldman doesn't make this the "definitive" Churchill (a consummate performer in real-life, the "definitive" Churchill took a curtain call 53 years ago), but it's very watchable and compelling and though this isn't his best role, I've made my peace with it since Gary Oldman deserves to win an Oscar at some point and he's very good here (this is hardly Al Pacino winning for Scent of a Woman, even if I expect people to cattily say that on Sunday).

Joe Wright's direction, though, is probably the best part about Darkest Hour.  I loved the underground bunker moments, and how he uses the film's structure to have big, Classical Hollywood-style moments with the added benefit of a modern camera.  Look at the way that we see a humanized King George VI (Mendelsohn, who is excellent in the film and I'm surprised didn't get more awards consideration...perhaps the memory of Colin Firth in this role is too soon?), something we couldn't possibly have watched in the 1950's, combined with patriotic speeches toward Churchill about nerve (something we surely would have seen in the 1950's).  I also (and I know others HATED this scene), got quite misty-eyed during the train sequence even if it's realism was absurd.  I go to the movies to be entertained, and in an era of Trump it's nice to imagine for a brief moment someone who actually listens to the people, and not just the voices in his head.  Plus, Oldman's clearly having a blast in that scene, and that reverberates.  Wright's use of populism in the film (while never veering toward propaganda) and a tight, focused camera lens adds another interesting chapter to his impressive (save Pan) filmography.  I just wish the man who created Briony Tallis and a marvelously modern Anna Karenina had had more for his female characters to do.  James is good in her role, but is meant so clearly to be an audience surrogate that it's hard to relate to her as a person herself, while Kristin Scott Thomas is doing light-lifting with a sharp but surface-level performance as Clementine Churchill.  This could have been a remarkable film if occasionally we'd learned a bit more about these women's lives.  As it is, though, it's far better than critics, perhaps chagrined about having to write about yet another war film in the Best Picture lineup in a year where AMPAS took some big risks in that category, were willing to admit.