DARKEST HOUR

Gary Oldman     Kristin Scott Thomas     Stephen Dillane     Ronald Pickup     Ben Mendelssohn     Lily James

     Timing.  If only this picture had preceded Dunkirk, I think we would have a better understanding of both films.  Darkest Hour informs us about Winston Churchill’s darkest hour just after he’s become Prime Minister (without the firm support of key Parliament members and even King George VI) when Hitler’s Germany has occupied the Netherlands, Belgium, and France.  Viscount Halifax (Dillane) and Lord Chamberlain (Pickup) are urging him to start negotiations for peace with Hitler—which is anathema to Churchill.  But to this film’s credit, we feel the tremendous burden the conundrum places on someone with this degree of power.  And Churchill sincerely looks at all sides, finally being convinced of the road to take, delivering one of the most rousing speeches of his career about standing up to Hitler’s military threat.  (The ride on the underground, where he elicits riders’ opinions is the filmmakers’ invention.)

     Writer Anthony McCarten and Director Joe Wright have made Darkest Hour a study of Winston Churchill the man—his relationship with his wife Clementine (Thomas) (who continually reinforces the better side of him), his interactions with Parliament members and his staff and the King (Mendelssohn), and frequent periods of doubt and concern over doing what was right for the country and its people.   He seems hardboiled about sacrificing thousands of troops in Callaix, yet when it is made personal by his secretary Miss Layton (James), he is clearly moved and saddened.  When his family toasts him on winning the post of Prime Minister, his own toast is, “Here’s to not buggering it up.”

     This may be the role of Gary Oldham’s career, and one that may earn him a long overdue Academy Award.  The makeup and his portrayal of the great man completely hide his own identity.  I tried in vain to see a trace of Oldham the actor in his appearance.  He’s known for a wide range of roles and pictures, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Nil by Mouth (writer, director), Sid and Nancy, The Dark Knight (2), Batman, Planet of the Apes, and Harry Potter, and he well deserves accolades for his performance here.  Kristin Scott Thomas is exemplary in her acting as well, and Lily James is noteworthy in her role as Churchill’s new secretary. 

    Director Joe Wright is acclaimed for his British productions, particularly Pride and Prejudice and Atonement, but is respected as well for his other films, The Soloist, Hanna, and Anna Karenina. In Darkest Hour, he elects to shine more light on Churchill’s personality, particularly during a tenuous period when he has little support and must convince so many that it’s better not to negotiate with Hitler and Mussolini but for England to stand its ground.  He was a voice crying in the wilderness, because so many in the government were not taking strong stands against fascism, and his good friend President Roosevelt did not feel free (because of America’s neutral stance) to lend air support. 

     The film highlights that period of time when Winston Churchill proved himself a hero.  Not much will be new to the viewer after so many Churchill movies; the primary reason to see it is perhaps Gary Oldman’s performance.

Behind the scenes government in Britain leading up to the Battle of Dunkirk.

Grade:  C                                    By Donna R. Copeland

THE SPACE BETWEEN US

Asa Butterfield     Gary Oldman     Britt Robertson     Karla Gugino     BD Wong     Janet Montgomery

      The Space between Us will surprise and delight you every step of the way.  It starts with the clever—but not too clever—script (Allan Loeb, Stewart Schill, Richard Barton Lewis), then directed almost perfectly by Peter Chelsom, and acted to a tee by Asa Butterfield, Britt Robertson, Gary Oldman, Karla Gugino, and the rest of the cast.  The musical score by Andrew Lockington is lyrical and provocative for each scene, and Barry Peterson’s cinematography captures all the beauty of the New Mexican landscape (sometimes with the Albuquerque balloons overhead), the colorful topography of Mars with the clean lines of its space station, and close-ups of the expressive faces of the actors.

     The engaging story starts with the high hopes of the company Genesis and its East Texas mission to put six astronauts on Mars for a long period of time.  Genesis’ founder Nathaniel Shepherd (Oldman) regards the mission as a proud father would his child.  The lead astronaut, Sarah Elliot, eloquently answers the question from press about whether she is afraid, when she acknowledges she is, but she has courage, and “courage is fear that has said its prayers.”

     Unfortunately, sometime after the successful engagement with Mars, Sarah has morning sickness.  Horrors!  She is pregnant, and those in command have to come up with a plan.  This is where Shepherd steps up and makes the decision to keep the information classified.  The doctor on board will deliver her baby, and then they’ll decide what to do after that.  They are aware that the consequences of a baby in utero developing in zero gravity conditions are unknown.

     In addition, scientists in such a situation are not always mindful of human factors that can enter into these circumstances.  For instance, after sixteen years go by, Gardner Elliot is a bright, inquisitive teenager who is going through an identity crisis.  Neither his mother or his father is on board at this point; instead, an astronaut named Kendra (Gugino) is looking after him.  But he wants to know who he is, and realizes that he needs to go to Earth to find out.

     Most of the rest of the story is about this journey filled with tender gaffes and outright comedic situations.  Gardner has started an online friendship with Tulsa (Robertson), a cheeky, talented earth-girl who has been orphaned and placed in foster homes so many times she knows more about life than her foster “parents.”  He is determined to find her and get her help in finding his father. 

     Much of the wit of the film is seeing the jaded Tulsa meeting the sincere Gardner, and trying to comprehend who he is (Ah, he is from Mars!) and helping him understand earth and its customs. 

     I loved the constant plane/bus/stolen automobile chases—that mimic action films with their mandatory loud car chases—with Shepherd and Kendra always trying to locate the runaways Gardner and Tulsa.  This intelligent, well crafted and presented “action” film should please everyone.

Everything fits together so beautifully in this film, you want to cheer at the end.

Grade:  A                                    By Donna R. Copeland

CHILD 44

Tom Hardy     Noomi Rapace      Joel Kinnaman      Vincent Cassel      Gary Oldman     Charles Dance     Jason Clarke

World War II has ended, but in Stalinist Russia a reign of terror pervades, as related in Child 44 based on a prize-winning book with the same title by Tom Rob Smith.  This should be a better film than it is, with its outstanding cast.  Since I haven’t read the book, I don’t know how well the script follows Smith’s book, and maybe Richard Price (screenplay) simply wasn’t up to the job.  I also found the editing (Pietro Scalia and Dylan Tichenor) nerve-wracking and choppy.  The story does not flow easily, and it’s always several seconds or minutes into a new scene before the viewer can figure out what is going on and who the players are.  Cheap shots like showing only the bottom parts of the actors and hearing voices before speakers appear seem to be attempts to heighten the mystery, but this is completely unnecessary; the story is dramatic enough without camera and editing tricks.

           We see Leo Demidov (Xavier Atkins in early years; Hardy in later years) weeping about his father’s death, escaping from an orphanage, and ending up in military service, where he becomes a hero.  For that, he is appointed to the MGB (later to become the KGB) where he is to round up traitors.  He is shown to be more compassionate than most, particularly his fellow officer Vasili (Kinnaman).  When Vasili shows himself to be cruelly vengeful and cold-blooded, Leo attacks him publicly, which will have dire consequences for Leo and his wife Raisa (Rapace).

           We’re given a picture of the MGB when a suspected traitor (Jason Clarke) is routed out at a farmhouse, and when Leo asks him why he ran from the officers if he was innocent, the reply is, “When you’re followed, you’re arrested; and when you’re arrested, you’re already guilty; so you tell me, why did I run?”  We see many people being rounded up at home, at work, or on the street for apparently the flimsiest excuses.

           In this context of fear and paranoia, an atmosphere where the illusion of an idyllic state is more important than truth and justice, murder can go undetected, which is especially unfortunate in the case of a serial killer of children, who knowingly exploits this fact and literally gets away with murder(s).  Most of the rest of the story deals with this and the outrageous vindictiveness of Vasili who will make Demidov pay dearly for his public reproach.  But Leo is conscientious—even though he and Raisa are pursued as traitors—and doggedly pursues the cases of the murdered children.

           The whole story of Child 44 is an intriguing one that keeps the viewer keenly involved and invested in the outcome, so it’s a shame that with the fine cast and Ridley Scott as one of the producers, Director Daniel Espinosa was not able to bring about a work of higher quality. 

 

There is no murder in paradise.

Grade:  C                                         By Donna R. Copeland