Cert. PG / 125mins.
Darkest Hour is an immersive film cataloguing a tumultuous four-week period of British history in the middle months of 1940 between the fall of Norway and the evacuation of Dunkirk. Winston Churchill (Gary Oldman) succeeds the ineffectual Neville Chamberlain (Ronald Pickup) as prime minister and faces a desperate race against time to unite rival factions in the government in order to repel the Nazi menace massing on the other side of the Channel.
Almost completely unrecognisable beneath his (Oscar-winning) make-up, Oldman's towering, once-in-a-lifetime performance is at the heart of Darkest Hour: this is very much his film. But strong support is supplied by Kristin Scott Thomas (as Clemmie) and Lily James (Downton Abbey, War and Peace) as Churchill's young secretary, Elizabeth Layton. Keep an eye out also for a host of fine old British character actors in minor roles.
Darkest Hour is an unforgettable film powered by a mesmerising, Oscar-winning central performance from Oldman.