Gary Oldman as Winston Churchill does a fine job, there is no doubt about it. The plot itself is okay, but lacks a clear climax, which is not altogether negative because this lack of a real climax lends itself well to the partial realism of the movie. The movie also does a fine job of showing the importance of Churchill's attitude when it comes to Hitler: No surrender, and you can't reason with a Tiger when your head is in its mouth. If Churchill had continued the disastrous appeasement policy the world would probably look very different today.
But the scene that ruined the movie for me is the Underground scene. First off, any viewer can guess that this scene never happened whereas all the other scenes that are fictitious at least seem plausible and possible. But the Underground scene is just too much. I imagine the English people to have been very divided at the time about the question whether it made sense to negotiate with Hitler or not. But the director here is adamant about showing us that the English people as a whole were unified in their will to fight fascism. He represents a cross section of the English people, with minorities represented as well, and all of them show support for Churchill's resolve. This scene, to me at least, is pure populism. I belive that Churchill made the right call and that it doesn't matter whether the English people were behind him or not, because history showed that he was right. There's no need for additional pathos here and there is also no need to make the audience believe that politicians are in touch with the common people or take the people's view into account.
If the director had decided to drop this scene I probably wold have rated the movie 8 out of 10.
But the scene that ruined the movie for me is the Underground scene. First off, any viewer can guess that this scene never happened whereas all the other scenes that are fictitious at least seem plausible and possible. But the Underground scene is just too much. I imagine the English people to have been very divided at the time about the question whether it made sense to negotiate with Hitler or not. But the director here is adamant about showing us that the English people as a whole were unified in their will to fight fascism. He represents a cross section of the English people, with minorities represented as well, and all of them show support for Churchill's resolve. This scene, to me at least, is pure populism. I belive that Churchill made the right call and that it doesn't matter whether the English people were behind him or not, because history showed that he was right. There's no need for additional pathos here and there is also no need to make the audience believe that politicians are in touch with the common people or take the people's view into account.
If the director had decided to drop this scene I probably wold have rated the movie 8 out of 10.