Darkest Hour

A near-perfect companion piece to Christopher Nolan's terse, elliptical Dunkirk, Joe Wright's account of the lead-up to the 1940 evacuation not only fills in some of the political background of that now infamous wartime debacle but also reclaims Winston Churchill from the dusty pages of history books. A near unrecognisable Gary Oldman plays him with mischief and passion, as Darkest Hour details how the Conservative politician, unpopular and unwanted by his own party, came to lead a coalition government, even against the wishes of the king (a superb Ben Mendelsohn). So much of it is familiar, including Churchill's tender androck-solid relationship with his wife Clementine (Kristin Scott Thomas), but the treatment is not: Wright's forceful direction depicts not so much a hero as a principled man snatching victory from the jaws of defeat. Certain engineered Hollywood moments dilute the overall impact, including a twee meet and greet on a Tube train, but Oldman is never less than sensational. What a performance.