Churchill

Of course my dad wanted to watch the other Winston Churchill movie that came out last year. Unlike Darkest Hour, this one is set in the days leading up to D-Day, when Churchill (Brian Cox) is trying his best to scuttle the Normandy invasion. He sees it as helping to prevent a massacre, as Gallipoli looms large in his memory. Failing at that, he tries to get himself on one of the landing ships, partially because he doesn't like sending men to their deaths while he sits at a desk in London. And partially because he thinks of this as his war to run.

So it's a lot of him acting a bit like a petulant child. Storms off when Eisenhower and Brooke tell him they are not wasting forces on diversions in the Aegean Sea or Norway. Yells at his wife, berates his secretary for not double-spacing a draft of a speech. To the extent this is him dreading what he fears is going to be massive casualties, it's understandable. He's under a lot of strain, it's taking its toll. To the extent he's just mad because he's WINSTON CHURCHILL, damnit, and that means he should be able to have his way, it's not a good look.

The movie doesn't take the creative liberty Darkest Hour did with that scene where Churchill decides to use the subway to poll the regular Joes on their thoughts, but it does have a scene where he prays at his bedside for a massive storm that will cancel D-Day. I'm guessing that didn't really happen. There's a few things like that, probably not accurate, but they make for entertaining dramatics.

The two movies make for an interesting contrast. Darkest Hour has an uncertain Churchill being undermined by Chamberlain and Halifax, whereas Churchill has Winston certain that Operation Overlord in a mistake, and he's trying to interfere with them. The former movie references Gallipoli, but Churchill is more defiant about it, still just angry at the Navy for half-assing their side of things. This movie paints it less as something that makes others doubt him, and more something that haunts him and influences his judgment. Churchill spends a lot more time on the interaction between him and his wife, Clementine, the sometimes strained nature of their relationship, whereas Darkest Hour spent a lot of energy on him and his secretary. Darkest was trying to play with the idea Churchill isn't sure how much he can ask of the populace (the whole uncertainty of his position), which she represents. While Churchill is him having to accept that his place in things is changing and he has to move forward, and the person who's been with him that whole way has to help him, if he'll stop being such a mule about it.

Darkest Hour had a few more bits that made me laugh, but I don't know which I'd say was better. Should have asked my dad, as the resident Anglophile.