Director / Jonathan Teplitzky (THE RAILWAY MAN, BURNING MAN, GETTIN’ SQUARE)
Stars/ Brian Cox, Miranda Richardson, John Slattery, Ella Purnell and James Purefoy

CHURCHILL is the first of two films that dramatise one of the most defining moments in the career of United Kingdom Prime Minister, Winston Churchill. The other film to be released later in the year will be DARKEST HOUR, starring Gary Oldman.

Directed by Australian filmmaker Jonathan Teplitzky, CHURCHILL revolves around a tense four day period that happened during the first of two terms that Churchill served as Prime Minister. In June, 1944, the Allied forces are ready to make their move on unsuspecting Nazi Germans, who are occupying territory in north-western Europe. The only person opposed to the invasion is Churchill himself, who is still heavily traumatised by the consequences of similar plans that were carried out during the First World War, fearing that history will repeat.

CHURCHILL is an intimately shot and gently scored portrait of a dreadfully important and volatile short period of time in the life of the iconic PM, who was best known for his rousing speeches.

Alex von Tunzelmann’s screenplay ostensibly renders an accurate portrayal of the inner demons that Churchill grappled with and the pressures and frustrations he endured. Another side explored in this fact-based story surrounds the relationship that Winston shared with his wife, Clementine (Miranda Richardson) and the support that she provided to her husband. This component of the script is less convincing due to the rather one-dimensional observation it makes, which I doubt is the real intention here. Questions pertaining to the truthfulness and fairness of its construction and development do remain. While the story may not offer most viewers many new insights, CHURCHILL does offer Brian Cox one his most significant roles yet and he makes his performance a career-best one that is reminiscent of Bryan Cranston’s Oscar-nominated work in TRUMBO.

When comparing this biopic to other politically-themed films, CHURCHILL isn’t of the same high quality as THE KING’S SPEECH or FROST/NIXON. Nor is it produced with the artistic integrity that made JACKIE such a hit with critics. Nevertheless, its matter-of-fact style and concise writing on the focal subject matter should not be mistaken for blandness.

3 ½ stars

Viewer Discretion/ M (mature themes)

Trailer / CHURCHILL

Moviedoc thanks Transmission Films for the invite to the screening of this film..

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