Darkest Hour

Joe Wright’s 2017 film gives Churchill’s first weeks in office a hundred and twenty five minutes, almost all in closed rooms, scripted by Anthony McCarten. Its most visible work is makeup. Kazuhiro Tsuji had quit film for sculpture, finding the industry emotionally unhealthy. Gary Oldman reached him in 2016 and, by Tsuji’s account, said he would take the part if Tsuji did it. His silicone pieces were applied by David Malinowski and Lucy Sibbick. In forty eight shooting days Oldman spent two hundred hours in the chair. In Slate, historian John Broich checks the film against the record. Churchill riding the Underground to consult the public is invented. Where ministers rise in ovation, Hugh Dalton’s diary records “a murmur of approval round the table”. The 4 June 1940 speech was not radio broadcast as shown. He does find the tense start with King George VI backed by the king’s diary. It won two of six nominations in 2018: Oldman for Actor in a Leading Role, Tsuji, Malinowski and Sibbick for Makeup and Hairstyling. It lost Cinematography, Costume Design, Production Design and Best Picture. A good fit if you will watch a turning point settled by a cabinet head count, not a battlefield. Not for you if it grates that the most rousing scenes rest least on record.