COMMENT POSTED TO A FILM REVIEW BY DAVID SMITH IN THE
GUARDIAN
Churchill 'in the year
of Trump': Darkest Hour feeds America's love for Winston
I regard Gary Oldman as one of the finest screen actors of
our time.
And I'm sure he did a fine job as Winston, but I won't be
seeing it.
In general, I don't like actors mimicking figures I have
embedded in memory.
As a child, I saw many documentaries (as the "Valiant
Years") and newsreels of Churchill and as an adult I read several major
biographies as well as a good amount of his own writing, including his complete
history of the war.
He is definitely embedded in my memory.
The reading though provides another reason to avoid the
film. Never mind "darkest hour," Churchill himself was actually in
many respects a dark figure.
The popular image of the smiling face with cigar and hat,
homburg or bowler, hand held in the victory sign, has become something of a
democratic symbol.
And it served a real wartime purpose, but it was something
of an act. He also frequently wore a top hat on big occasions, and that was
perhaps closer to the essence of the man.
Churchill was not a democrat in his bones, not at all.
He was what he sometimes quite seriously called himself,
"a great man," and he was one of the most dedicated imperialists of
his time, surely close to the opposite of a democrat.
He certainly had no qualms about applying brutality against
those in the far-flung corners of empire who disagreed that British Crown
should represent their identity.
His own writing contains some very disparaging comments
about meeting the average voter when running for office.
There was no doubt about it, he provided a great wartime
symbol, and of course, that is what the film features. But I can’t see, no
matter how well done, a mimicry of what was itself a kind of dramatic acting
role.
Outside of war, he was neither an inspiring nor particularly
able leader in government, had many outdated notions and beliefs, and advocated
some terrible policies.
The people understood that and turfed him after the war,
despite the notion that should be grateful for his wartime role.
