Movie review by Dennis D. McDonald

I watched this tightly directed and acted drama with a sense of awe and doom. As events unfold we see Winston Churchill deal with the realities of guiding England through World War II only to be rejected by voters as Allied victory emerges.

Brendan Gleeson

The viewer is struck by the high-stakes game being played here. It’s an episodic movie as we move rapidly from one crisis to another and we see how Churchill dealt with the realities of war and the very real threats of a Nazi invasion. Along the way we are exposed to Churchill’s relationships with his wife, his servants, the king, his cabinet, Roosevelt, and the war itself.

All of this makes up an awful reality that is horrifying since it’s all true. What if there had been no Winston Churchill? We’ll never know the answer to that hypothetical question but as rushed as it is the movie makes abundantly clear why England and the Allies were so fortunate to have leadership from people like Churchill when it really counted.

Review copyright (c) 2015 by Dennis D. McDonald