CHURCHILL, the film

Winston Churchill is quite recognizable with his cigar, jowls and hefty frame. He had a central role during World War II as the Prime Minister  of the United Kingdom . His eloquent and inspiring speeches to his countrymen during the unrelenting  bombing of the Nazis  kept them strong and  hopeful.

This  is a different war film in that not a shot was fired.  The plot follows Churchill for the last 96 hours before the invasion  of France on D-Day. Mr. Churchill has demons of regret for young soldiers lost during WWI and decisions that he had made directly in the fighting.  He is obsessed  about not making the same mistake in this conflict.The military generals, Eisenhower and Montgomery are frustrated by  his meddling and  lack of trust in their judgment. It turns out Mr. Churchill is disdainful of the Americans coming to Britain and telling them what to do.

Churchill, it turns out,  is plagued with debilitating depression and along with his age, lack of influence, and pride it  seems often to be his downfall. His wife, Clementine, at least in the film was a saint who kept him from going completely off the deep end. He often is the comic relief for such a serious film with his clever and quick retorts.

David and I love films.  Once years ago, when our daughter was just a wee lass, she went to Grandma’s for the weekend.  As [poor graduate students, we  had no money to do anything special or go somewhere, but we just went to all the films in Chancellorsville that weekend, one after the other. Tickets were  not $9 apiece then either. Now we save some for TV watching on the movie channels  but we usually see  one a weekend in the theater.

We often read a review before making a final choice. Churchill got a very low critic approval.  But we wanted to see if so we went anyway.  David  says that critics get paid to be critical  so that is to be expected.  We try to make good choices and go on our instincts to see what we are interested in.

I liked the film as I really enjoy historical period films.  **** out of 5 stars for my review.

Here is a quote from Mr. Churchill which I particularly liked.

“This war is not for glory but for freedom!”