By John Schwarz
It was recently reported that in 2017 the movie industry experienced its worst year in the last 22 years. We’re big moviegoers and it was a very disappointing year, until December 28, that night we saw a magnificent movie, “The Darkest Hour”. The time is May 1940. The place is London. Winston Churchill, played to perfection by Gary Oldman, must convince Parliament that England has no choice but to go to war against Germany.
Oldman is one of the Oscar contenders for “Best Actor”. It will be criminal if he doesn’t get the award. It’s one of the finest performances I have ever seen. The picture should also receive the “Best Picture” award.
Of course, that doesn’t necessarily mean that either Oldman or “Darkest Hour” will win an award. Last year I and countless others were positive that “La La Land” would win Best Picture. But at the Oscar ceremony, no sooner were they honoring it with the award than they were correcting themselves and giving it to another film! A complete miscarriage of justice. “La La Land” was seen by 330 million people; “Moonlight”, the winner, which few had heard of, a mere 10 million.
“Darkest Hour” is basically taken from a first-rate work of non-fiction entitled “Five Days in London: May 1940”. At the conclusion of the movie, my wife Anita and I just sat in our seats stunned for five minutes as they ran off the credits. We realized we had seen an unbelievably great movie. The conclusion leaves you breathless. It’s Churchill giving his speech to the House of Commons. That speech changed the direction in which the world was heading. You have to see this movie.
