Three days prior to the 53rd death anniversary of Winston Churchill, we made an impromptu plan on a Sunday morning to watch the movie Darkest Hour, of course co-incidentally!!
The film revolves around the sequence of events in May 1940 in the UK. Churchill becomes PM as the last resort, after Chamberlain\’s resignation and Halifax\’s refusal to be his successor. The way he handles the Dunkirk crisis where 3,00,000 British soldiers have been trapped, the manner in which he faces opposition in his war cabinet for refusing to negotiate with Hitler and the way he lifts up the spirit of the the British people at large, forms crux of the movie!!!
His first speech at the Parliament as the PM goes to say, \”I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears, and sweat\”.
The consequent speeches are laden with inspiration and energy… \”We shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; WE SHALL NEVER SURRENDER!!\”
Gary Oldman, the man with multiple acclaimed roles and awards against his name, plays Churchill convincingly!! The makeup artist Kazuhiro Tsuji has left no stone unturned to ensure that the prosthetic work was spot on!! Both of them have been touted as the Academy award winners in their respective categories. The talented Bharat ka damad (he\’s married to Anoushka Shankar 😂😂😂), Joe Wright is at the helm of affairs as the director!
It\’s really fascinating to see and read how a man could spark the spirits of an entire country, the capital of which had been bombed for 56 days on a trot, with mere words!! No wonder he went on to win the Nobel prize for literature in 1953!!