Churchill

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D-Fens
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Churchill

#1 Post by D-Fens » Sun Jun 11, 2017 4:30 pm

Ohhh no no no no no, Gary Oldman plays Brian Cox playing Winston Churchill behind the scenes of the immediate run-up to D-Day, struggling with the moral and tactical implications. There's able support from QE1 playing Miranda Richardson playing his wife, James Purefoy playing Colin Firth in the return of King George VI and Ella Purnell playing a dear, doe-eyed secretary.

I'm confident I could go on to describe the entire movie in a few sentences, which is never a good sign. It's not very visual and I'm not entirely sure of it's purpose, the movie spends most of the running time belying the triumphant text at the end. I was also pleased to see the credits and like Churchill and some in the cinema go ruminate with a nap.

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Re: Churchill

#2 Post by Beate » Mon Jun 12, 2017 9:32 am

Funny that. The end informs us in writing that Churchill was one of the greatest Britons of all time, yet the film spends its entire running time trying to convince us of the opposite. Churchill is portrayed as a cantankerous old fool, snapping at his wife and being unpleasant to his secretary, while actively wishing that D-Day would be destroyed by a rainstorm. Is this even historically accurate? Some of the sparring between him and his wife is faintly amusing, otherwise this is a sleep-inducing theatre play about a cranky old man who can't see that he's become obsolete. This isn't thrilling in the slightest. Yawn.

Btw, why on earth did Churchill pronounce them "Nasis"? That really bugged me.

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Re: Churchill

#3 Post by prettyxcool » Mon Jun 12, 2017 12:49 pm

I saw it differently. He was someone who had suffered and experienced previous wars, extremely witty and elogant and not wanting to send thousands of young men to their deaths. We see the side from people left behind not at the front, making tough decisions.

He was a depressive who felt he was losing his grip. Indeed a very intimate, but brutal warts and all portrayal. Interesting to see Churchill's role in the war and that he was against the D-Day landing, and finally he realises his place was not amongst the war generals and strategists, but as the champion of the people and the British spirit. That was a great speech at the end.

A solid historical drama.

8/10

From the guy who wrote the screenplay:
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/j ... -brian-cox
Last edited by prettyxcool on Wed Jun 14, 2017 11:47 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Churchill

#4 Post by tobyjonathans » Tue Jun 13, 2017 10:45 am

Really liked Cox and Richardson but felt that the film would have benefited from more time exploring their relationships instead of getting wound up with the contemporary events themselves. The final third was the strongest because it was the only time that Churchill was explored as a human character.

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Re: Churchill

#5 Post by kevinknapman » Tue Jun 13, 2017 5:32 pm

prettyxcool wrote: From the guy who wrote the screenplay:
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/j ... -brian-cox
It's a woman actually. I have to admit I made that assumption when I went to the BFI Southbank screening and Q&A. When it said writer/historian Alex Von Tunzelmann, I was expecting a stuffy male middle-aged professor type, not a woman with blue hair and a tattoo.
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Re: Churchill

#6 Post by prettyxcool » Tue Jun 13, 2017 11:42 pm

kevinknapman wrote:
prettyxcool wrote: From the guy who wrote the screenplay:
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/j ... -brian-cox
It's a woman actually. I have to admit I made that assumption when I went to the BFI Southbank screening and Q&A. When it said writer/historian Alex Von Tunzelmann, I was expecting a stuffy male middle-aged professor type, not a woman with blue hair and a tattoo.
Haha. Yes, I just assumed Alex is a male's name when it can so easily be a woman's name! Thanks for letting me know.
I should have clicked on her name and checked her profile :P

She indeed has very blue hair (on her twitter pic!) ;)
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Re: Churchill

#7 Post by fanADE » Wed Jun 14, 2017 8:04 pm

I have to agree with Beate... that the film showed him to be inept and out of touch about modern warfare then.. and to be consumed by the wars of previous years. His skill set turns out to be speech making and galvanizing a nation. Hugely enjoyable movie via DOY membership. Great performances all round..
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Re: Churchill

#8 Post by Diamond1 » Sun Jun 25, 2017 8:42 am

I went with high expectations to see this film but something didn't gel for me. I've seen much better portrayals of Churchill yet I usually like Brian Cox! I thought Miranda Richardson was not up for the job....too light weight but then what do I know. Why put down a great man with a part of history we know all too well and with a speech nobody remembers? All in all I was disappointed.

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Re: Churchill

#9 Post by fanADE » Sun Apr 08, 2018 2:38 pm

Then i saw Darkest Hour.. .. ...
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