The Darkest Hour

London in May 1940: The not-so-popular Winston Churchill (Gary Oldman) is appointed by the King to succeed the resigned Prime Minister Chamberlain, hoping that he can find a way to stop the seemingly unstoppable Nazi advance without more British soldiers losing their lives. Everything seems to boil down to England having to enter into peace negotiations with the Nazis. But Churchill will not accept such a defeat. He believes that there is no alternative to the fight for freedom. As the fierce air battle for England erupts, the price for that freedom seems far too high for many. Churchill must now find a way to unite his party and the entire nation in order to strike a decisive blow against the enemy. But the situation seems hopeless.

The Darkest Hour is not only the second film in a few months to focus on Winston Churchill, but also the third to also revolve around the dramatic events at Dunkirk. In direct comparison to Jonathan Teplitzky's Churchill with Brian Cox, however, Joe Wright's (Abbitte) historical war drama fares much better. This is not only due to the outstanding performance of Gary Oldman, who completely disappears in the role of the British Prime Minister behind the terrific work of the make-up artists. The script Anthony McCarten (The Discovery of Infinity) is also partly responsible for this more positive impression, as it does not lose sight of the entertainment value with a little British wordplay and the necessary emotionality.

Churchill is great acting, but dramaturgically very dry. Therefore, the film drags in places badly. The Darkest Hour also has a few minor lengths, but is much more engaging and entertaining overall. Despite a certain weight of content, Wright knows very well how to absorb this through a staged lightness. On a positive note, despite Gary Oldman's extremely strong performance, the other actors still have enough room to leave a lasting impression on the viewer as well. This is especially true for Kristin Scott Thomas, who delivers some truly great moments as Churchill's wife.

The only thing the film suffers from is that the story has just been told before - albeit not quite as well as it is here. But that's the only real criticism of this very well-crafted and strongly acted history lesson. And the performance of those responsible for the make-up and set alone cannot be praised highly enough. For this there is clearly one: Absolutely worth seeing!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp