STRONGER

Jake Gyllenhaal     Tatiana Maslany     Miranda Richardson     Clancy Brown

     David Gordon Green knows how to tell a story that gets to the heart of the common man—and of those who surround him during significant events in his life.  In Stronger, he captures not only the spirit of Boston after the Boston Marathon bombing, he shows the arc of one of the accidental heroes of the moment, Jeff Bauman, heroically played by Jake Gyllenhaal.  Hopefully, award season will be Gyllenhaal’s long-overdue time to get the credits he deserves.  How many people have kept a sharp eye on him through all the 2,000’s?  I certainly have, and think his superb performances in Nightcrawler, Brokeback Mountain, Prisoners, Nocturnal Animals, and other major films make him deserving again this year.

     In Stronger, Gyllenhaal plays a rather hapless guy who is trying to win back his girl by promoting her run in the Boston Marathon.  He and Erin (Maslany) have broken up several times before on account of his unreliability, smacking of a bipolar disorder.  He is late, doesn’t show up when he’s supposed to, etc.  And as is typical of him, he suddenly gets pumped when he discovers she is running in the Marathon and he wants to promote support for her.  He’s trying to win her back, and stands with a homemade sign about her on the finish line when the bombs start going off.

     Jeff is a smart man, and as soon as he wakes up from the anesthesia following surgery on both legs, he lets the FBI know he saw one of the bombers and can give them a description, something that helped authorities in apprehending the perpetrators. 

     So at this point, we know something about Jeff and the woman he loves.  Next, we get a picture of what this kind of fame can do to a person of his makeup and his relationships.  He is surrounded by people who unwittingly want to satisfy their own frustrated aspirations through him.  This is especially true of his mother Patty (Richardson), who hasn’t had much of a life after divorce, except what she can hold onto with her brother and his family.  But beyond his family, even passersby who have seen his story on TV feel like they own a part of him.

     Jeff is one of the least likely people who can manage the situation, much less use it to his advantage.  We see how the man tries to cope, see the admirably stalwart support he gets from Erin, and the complications his relationship with his mother presents.  This is Green’s strong suit—his presentation of very real, very flawed people who nonetheless deserve our love and support.  I appreciated so much his portrayal of Erin, a young woman who loves, forgives, and tries to cope with a situation that is thrown at her and not of her own making.  She seems to me to be as much a hero as Jeff. 

     This is a story about a hero that could go in many different ways.  Green has chosen to make it a real story about real people.  But he hasn’t limited it to Jeff and Erin.  We also hear about the man Carlos who rescued Jeff, also an unlikely hero who, after losing two sons manages to acquit himself.   Certainly, the direction and acting in this film is superb, but the cinematography by Sean Bobbitt and music by Michael Brook contribute significantly to the excellence of Stronger.

The story of an unlikely, unwilling hero and the complexities around him.

Grade:  A                                By Donna R. Copeland

CHURCHILL

Brian Cox     Miranda Richardson     John Slattery     Julian Wadham     Richard Durden     James Purefoy     Ella Purnell

     This critique is revised from an earlier version published on 6/1/17.  The revision is as a result of learning that the film does not adhere to important historical facts, according to others more knowledgeable about history than I, and most notably after a Radio Brave interview with Winston Churchill’s great grandson (https://www.facebook.com/RadioBrave/).  Jonathan Sandys has devoted his own professional life to the study of his grandfather’s life and legacy.  In his own words, his “mission is to continue the amazing legacy Sir Winston left the world, and work with present and future generations to inspire the great leadership of courage, faith and integrity employed by [Churchill] throughout his tumultuous life” (http://leadlikechurchill.org/profile/).  In the interview, although Jonathan Sandys praised the actors’ performances, he stated that the script is highly inaccurate, specifically with reference to Churchill’s participation in D-Day planning, his personality characteristics, and his relationship with his wife Clementine.  In my opinion, this detracts significantly from the film Churchill, so I have lowered my grade and revised some of the content of my original review.

     In the film, it’s June of 1944, and France has just come under German occupation in WWII.  The Allied commanders are meeting in London to consider Operation Overlord, a D-Day plan to invade France on its northern border and drive the Nazis out of the country.  There has already been general consensus that it’s a viable plan, and General Eisenhower, Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces (Slattery), Field Marshall Montgomery, Field Marshall Smuts (Durden), and the other leaders are forging ahead with it.  Although the film depicts Prime Minister Churchill as disrupting the planning, this is not what actually happened; he was completely in favor of the plan.

     Also in the film, for the first time, perhaps, we get a peek into the role his wife “Clemmie” played in supporting Winston, which is historically accurate.  She was stalwart and helpful in her advice, and the couple had a mutually beneficial, loving marriage. The film indicates that there was considerable conflict between them, which is inaccurate.

     Churchill is beautifully filmed, coming across suspenseful and as much of a thriller as a biographical dramatization, even though we know how it’s going to turn out. Director Jonathan Teplitzky (“Indian Summers”, “Broadchurch”, and The Railway Man) and Cinematographer David Higgs present us with scenes that are visually luxuriant with symbolic references for more depth of meaning. Higgs captures symbolic moments with his camera, as when Churchill drops his hat while leaning over the muddy beach and it gets tossed into a turbulent sea growing progressively more red, trying to ride its waves (moments of agony for Churchill); or at the end when he gives a salute with it on his cane to the troops’ invasion of Normandy, and after his giving in to the pressures he has faced, it flies off, and scoots playfully down the seaside as if to say, “all is well.”

     The talented and experienced composer and musician Lorne Balfe seamlessly pairs his music with moods of whatever scene is taking place, whether it’s of Churchill contemplative on the isolated beach, the zippiness of a car tooling down the country roads, personal conflicts, or more severe modernistic strains accompanying thoughts and talks of war. 

     Brian Cox has probably delivered the peak performance of his career in depicting such a complex and deeply respected figure in world history.  He convincingly captures Churchill, who has been credited as “the greatest Briton of all time” because of his depth and honesty of character.  He was a fearless leader who, at the same time, had the greatest respect for his king, King George VI.  Not an easy role to play.  Miranda Richardson as Clementine had a challenge of matching the fine performance of Lindsay Duncan in the 2016 TV production, “Churchill’s Secret.”  She does this capably and provides warmth and subtle wit to this presentation.

     This is a British production with mixed quality about the Allied decision to invade Normandy and liberate France on D-Day, 1944.  Filming overall is of the highest quality in terms of direction, acting performances, cinematography and music.  It is unfortunate that Alex von Tunzelmann’s script strays so far from historical fact, whether it was her own decision or those of the producers’ overseeing the project.

Dramatization of the Allied commanders’ decision to invade Normandy on D-day, 1944.

Grade:  B-                                    By Donna R. Copeland