Darkest Hour

THE GIST: Right after being installed as the new British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill faces the dilemma of having to decide whether to negotiate a peace treaty with an unreliable and odious Hitler, whose unstoppable forces are steamrolling European nations big and small and will soon threaten Britain itself, or fight on to the bitter end. For a war declaration, he'd have to rally a wary nation behind him and outmaneuver the many politicians trying to oust him. Then he gets wind that the Nazis have cornered over 300,000 British troops on the beaches of Dunkirk, France, with no clear way to safety. Will he be able to rise to the moment in this darkest of hours?

Darkest Hour is an engaging political drama, largely based on factual accounts of what happened back then.

Nominated for Academy Awards in the Best Picture, Cinematography, Costume Design, and Production Design categories, it actually took home the Oscar for Best Makeup and Hairstyling, thanks to the jaw dropping transformation of Gary Oldman into Winston Churchill.

Oldman won the Oscar himself, for Best Lead Actor, with his mesmerizing performance. He certainly painted Churchill in a positive light, even though I subsequently read an article about the atrocities Churchill ordered or advocated during his long political career, and it's enough to make you shiver.

THE BOTTOM LINE: Definitely recommended for its biographical aspects and the amazing acting work, it actually makes a great bookend with the same crisis depicted in Christopher Nolan's Dunkirk.

Grade: 8.5