In my youth, I went to see a lot of movies. I still love a good movie, but I rarely get to the multiplex anymore, and I’m even too distracted to see much on Netflix.
When we flew out to California last week, the plane was equipped with movie viewing technology, so I took advantage of it. I finally saw The Post, which was quite a romp, but when that was over, there was still plenty of time left to see another movie. So I chose one I hadn’t heard of before: Darkest Hour, a film about the early days of Churchill as Prime Minister of Great Britain. Gary Oldman (augmented by prostheses) plays Churchill, and Kristen Scott-Thomas plays his wife, Clementine. Frankly, this movie hit me deep in the gut. It shows Churchill as a man of conviction, one who, despite repeated failures in his past, has been given a chance to lead his country at a time of unprecedented crisis. His own party does not support what he’s doing; the only reason Churchill was put forward as candidate for Prime Minister is because, after the appeasing Neville Chamberlain’s ouster from that position, and the desire of the opposition party to form a coalition government, Churchill was the only candidate that was acceptable to the opposition.
Here’s the trailer:
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Churchill for years had been railing against accommodation of Hitler before becoming Prime Minister. As he ascended to the office of Prime Minister, Chamberlain’s peace agreement was in tatters, Hitler’s forces were racing across Holland, Belgium and France, and all of Britain’s military forces were in France as that’s country’s regime folded like a cheap suit. Chamberlain and his protege Halifax were pressuring Churchill to negotiate peace terms with Hitler as a means of saving their troops. Churchill reached out to various allies but found no they were of no help. The film shows Churchill wavering and full of doubt, but when he appealed to the people of Britain, and they supported him, his resolve was renewed. Britain’s troops were saved by civilian watercraft coming to rescue them at Dunkirk, and, as you ought to know, there were no negotiations.
The film ended by displaying this famous quote of Churchill:
Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.
Perhaps I’m getting carried away, but this film speaks to me regarding our political situation today. We are on the brink of falling into an autocracy, and our democratic norms are assaulted on a daily basis. We must fight to save our democracy with every fiber of our being. We must vote in the upcoming election, and we have to work to make sure that as many other people vote as possible. We must support and promote our candidates to assure their victory. Surrender and appeasement are not options.
So get out there and work to elect Democrats!
And now for the comments!
Top Comments (June 2, 2018):
From cohenzee:
jan4insight flagged this comment by solesse413 about being a subscriber to The New York Times website. From Seashells’ recommended post on the Times’s partisan bias.
From Otteray Scribe:
In Dartagnan's story about the Occupant officially declaring himself above the law, proper British gentleman shortfinals provides the setup. PadreMellyrn finishes it off.
Top Mojo (June 1, 2018):
Top Mojo is courtesy of mik! Click here for more on how Top Mojo works.
Top Photos (June 1, 2018):
Tonight’s picture quilt is courtesy of jotter!