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Having recently watched John Lithgow play the role of Winston Churchill in the Netflix series ‘The Crown’ I was a bit apprehensive about how I would accept Gary Oldman’s portrayal of the former British Prime Minister.  Let me give you a response to that later…….

This story focuses on the four week period in May 1940 that covers the appointment of Winston Churchill as British Prime Minister up to the time that the evacuation of Dunkirk commences. The Parliament, having lost confidence in Neville Chamberlain, seeks a new leader but much to the ruling party’s despair the only person the opposition is willing to accept is Winston Churchill. With a poor war history, including overseeing the Gallipoli campaign, most of his colleagues don’t rate his chances of stepping in and saving Britain from the possible Nazi invasion as high.  Should he accept peace terms with Hitler or tough it out?   We all know how it ends so there is no spoiler alert warning.

The film itself felt as if the screen writer had gathered a whole lot of personal anecdotes, speeches and historical facts and thrown them together to make a patchwork of stories that were supposed to show Churchill’s personality and character as he struggles against his own weaknesses and the enemies from within his own political party. While Churchill is the focus of the film, the stories have been drawn from his relationships with his wife Clemmie, played by Kristin Scott Thomas, King George VI played by our own Ben Mendelsohn and his personal secretary Elizabeth, portrayed by Lily James.  I found the supporting characters very wooden with those opposing Churchill portrayed as untrustworthy scoundrels straight out of an old Sherlock Holmes movie while those who support him as very tolerant and forgiving of his heavy drinking and rudeness.

 To me Churchill came across as the unwelcome uncle who attends family gatherings and upsets everyone with his lack of social skills but is generally allowed to attend because he can tell funny jokes every now and then.  There are interesting anecdotes showing his popularity with the people as well as the lack of respect from his peers and of course his rousing speeches were used for patriotic effect.  However for much of the film I felt that he was portrayed as a doddering alcoholic and it made me wonder how Britain fought off the Germans to keep their independence during the Second World War

The awards buzz is that Gary Oldman is a good chance to win an Oscar for his portrayal as Churchill.  Personally I did not see his portrayal as worthy of the recognition he has received so far. The make up and prosthetics made him look like Churchill, and from film clips I have seen of the wartime Churchill he was able to copy his mannerisms and speech,  However I don’t believe the ability to mimic another person represents good acting.  Oldman did not make me like the character or have an interest in his story in the way that Daniel Day Lewis did with Lincoln.  All in all I found the movie very disjointed, with good actors stuck playing wooden characters.  While it was interesting from a historical perspective I believe that as a form of entertainment it was disappointing.

My Rating  6 friends out of 10