Oration in movies is often used as an emotion-triggering device, and Darkest Hour is a film in which speech dominates, becoming the foundation of the path. It makes sense, considering the latest work of Joe Wright (Pride & Prejudice, Atonement, Anna Karenina) tells the figure of Winston Churchill (Gary Oldman) who is known as a reliable orator. No one can string words as well as he does. At least according to the secretary, Elizabeth Layton (Lily James). That statement is hard to deny. One time the Lord Privy Seal called when Churchill was in the toilet. The response tickled: "Please tell the Privy Seal that I'm sealed in the privy and I can only deal with one shit at a time", Anthony McCarten inserted humour in his manuscripts, either the words like the above or comedy of manners as seen at Churchill's and King George VI's (Ben Mendelsohn) awkward meetings after he was appointed Prime Minister to replace Neville Chamberlain (Ronald Pickup) during World War II. Neville may be a good Prime Minister at peace, but another story in the middle of a war. Churchill with the persistence to stand in the face of the Nazis was elected, although many doubted his capacity, especially after Gallipoli which claimed hundreds of thousands of British troops.

Darkest Hour is willing to uncover Churchill's weakness. When Viscount Halifax (Stephen Dillane) publicly mentioned Gallipoli's tragedy as a result of Churchill's decision right before his eyes, there were doubts in the Prime Minister's response, though he kept denying the blame. Perhaps deep down in his little heart, Churchill realized he had done something wrong. He was steel-minded, unyielding, stubborn, but not impossibly torn down. Reaching a point, Churchill had fallen into a dark hole, frightened, hesitant, and even lost the words which were his skill.

Churchill hit a dilemma. Continue to fight with the risk of more lives of warriors drifting, or agreeing to make peace meaning opening the path of the Nazis increasingly powerful, and most likely disarming British independence. Many films take us into the middle of the battlefield. There, the faces of politicians and the holder of power are always the same: the heartless people who send soldiers to die while they hide behind thick forts in their own homes. Darkest Hour presents another perspective, highlighting what happened in the Parliament room, what do men in suits as owners of power.

This behind-the-scenes problem is able to stir the taste through Churchill's speech as if capable of moving the fire of the people's struggle. Wright, in one of his best directors, conjured a speech at a dim parliamentary meeting or a radio broadcast under a red light so a gripping moment in the chest. Dario Marianelli's music helps lift emotions while remaining a self-serving aesthetic piece, while the cinematography of Bruno Delbonnel presents an unusually powerful sequence of unexpected appearances (hint: involving the eyes of the corpse). Wright's effective dramatization, the decision to insert a manipulative fictive scene as Churchill met the people on the subway was understandable. Even the scene is a shaft of emotion that provides enough background regarding Churchill's decision.

In addition to Wright, Gary Oldman also dramatized. When you hear the tape, Churchill's speech is evocative but not as vivid as Oldman. The impact is perfect. Each time he begins to speak, it is instantly crushed, swept away by his ingenuity of composing words at the same time ignited by his spirits. Not only that, Oldman came to the top of the role arts, where he penetrated so deeply, merged with the playable figure until the small gestures of the vibrations of the lips (several times highlighted by Wright through close up) came naturally as part of him. This is a performance so good it makes me cry. The women around Churchill were alluring, from Lily James the secretary to Kristin Scott Thomas as Churchill's wife Clementine, who blew a warm romanticism. 

RATING (7,8/10)

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