" Although we have lost this battle, we will never surrender or surrender. We will fight to the end. We will fight in France, we will fight on the ocean, and we will fight in the air with confidence. !We will defend our homeland at any cost, we will fight on the beaches! Fight where the enemy lands! Fight in the fields and in the streets! Fight in the mountains! We will not surrender at any time even this island or most of this island. Occupied by the enemy and starving, our overseas empire, armed and protected by the British fleet, will also fight on."

Hope and Courage

This is the final speech of the film. The clip is also the most exciting moment in the entire film. When I saw this part of the film, my first feeling was that my blood was boiling, and I wanted to immediately pick up my gun, ride my horse, and kill the enemy in blood. This is not only because of the exciting words and sentences in the speech, but more importantly, at this moment, in this situation, I personally feel a great era, a moment full of courage.

Just like the thin Steve Rogers, who was knocked to the ground by a tall gangster, he still struggled to get up, wiped the blood on his mouth, and then gasped and stubbornly told the gangster: "I I can still fight with you for a whole day." In the face of invasion and national subjugation, the unyielding nature of human beings has been thoroughly aroused. But if you want to pursue peace, you must have the right to speak; if you want to gain the right to speak, you must show your strength. In war, in addition to your guns and tanks being more advanced, your strategies and tactics being more effective, and the quality of your personnel and equipment being better, more importantly, you have the courage and determination to win at all costs. It is precisely because of this indomitable courage that we have brought a victorious turn to the darkest era in human history.

Churchill in the movie is lonely. He has no friends and few supporters. The king does not trust him. His opponents are waiting for him to make a fool of himself and oppose all his decisions. The lives of more than 300,000 people were at stake in his mind. How much courage did he need to inspire the people not to give up hope just before the war came, and to deal with the open and covert arrows fired behind his back? When the building was about to collapse, Churchill was appointed as wartime prime minister. The survival of the entire country rests on his shoulders, and if he makes a wrong step, the country will be in danger. At that moment, Churchill was just like us ordinary people, confused, doubtful, and thought he was wrong. I especially remember him looking as frustrated as a child in a messy room. However, the reason why a great man is a great man is that he still did not give up in such a dark and light environment, gritting his teeth and moving forward firmly. After receiving the support of the king and the will of the people, his steps were so determined. The light that appeared on him at that moment was the hope in the darkest moment. As said at the end, success is not the end, nor is failure. What matters is our courage to move forward.

There is no doubt that this Darkest Hour is a good movie. In addition to the exciting speech at the end, it also brings other excellent elements.

The use of light

Light symbolizes brightness, rights and hope.

The director's use of light in "Darkest Hour" is extremely stingy and meticulous, and every inch of light is carefully planned. Let me give a few typical examples to illustrate:

At the beginning of the film, the Labor Party aggressively questioned the Conservative Party. The light was given to the Labor Party, which was in an advantage. Under the darkness, the Conservative Party was speechless and waved angrily. Chamberlain Wiping the sweat from his forehead, he looked at an empty chair.

In Churchill's inaugural speech, light was given to Churchill. There was silence around him, no support, no opposition. The eyes of his colleagues were all focused on Chamberlain's handkerchief. This light was lonely, and the hero was lonely.

When Churchill was most hesitant and helpless, the king personally visited him and gave him great support. Churchill also followed the king's wise advice, gained encouragement and support from the people at the bottom, and strengthened his determination to fight. And in that dark room, a faintly shining lamp illuminated the entire room. It was in this room that the two most powerful people in the British Empire understood and supported each other, and together they lit up the beacon of hope in this dark era.

In the last speech, the light was cast from the ceiling, shining impartially on Churchill. People in the darkness were gathering momentum in his energetic speech, waiting for an explosion. At this time, Churchill received the support of the king, inherited the people's firm will to defend the country, and was no longer wavering or confused. With sharp words, he loudly told the fascist dictator: We will never surrender, never!

The handkerchief was raised, and there was thunderous applause.

The use of lens language

Of course, in addition to light, there are other elements worth pondering in the film.

Throughout the entire film, the director flexibly used lens language in many places to convey various messages to the audience. What impressed me most were these fragments:

When Churchill went to France to encourage the French army to fight the fascists on the European battlefield, he looked down at the crowd below; and then when he was most hesitant When he couldn't stop, he went among the people and received huge support and encouragement.

In the stark contrast, there is actually a subtext: Only by going to the people, listening to the inner voices of the people, and gaining the support of the people can we gain tremendous power. Leaders give guidance to the people, and the people give leaders strength, achieving mutual success and promoting the process of human development.

While Churchill was taking a shower, the female secretary was typing at the door. Churchill said, I am coming out. When the female secretary realized something was wrong, Churchill had already walked out of the shower room naked.

In fact, the subtext of designing such a shot is: this 66-year-old man does things vigorously and resolutely, and does what he says. It was precisely this kind of character that during Dunkirk, although Churchill was a little hesitant about war or peace, he acted instinctively and recruited fishing boats to the front line, thus saving more than 300,000 veterans and retaining the The capital to turn defeat into victory in the end.

There is also the next scene. In order to attract the attention of the German army and reduce the German army's attention to the large number of British troops in Dunkirk, the soldiers in Calais did not get Churchill's order to retreat. Nickel Brigadier General Mori was at the bottom of the abandoned building, looking up at the sky, accompanied by Churchill's speech, and then the plane dropped bombs...

Subtext: From a certain perspective, it was Churchill's decision-making that led to the death of these soldiers. This is the cruelty of war. No matter how correct the decision is based on the overall situation, it will consume the lives of soldiers on the battlefield.

There are a lot of this kind of lens language in the film, and this is also something worth pondering in the film Darkest Hour.

Different Churchills

In history textbooks, Churchill is always associated with keywords such as obesity, cigars, and toughness. The book describes him as a great leader with foresight and determination who led the British people, united with France and other allied forces, fought tenaciously against the dictator, and finally won the anti-fascist war. He often gives the impression that he is distant and unreachable.

However, in this film, Churchill seems a little different. Through the lens of the camera, we saw an old man who was on the cusp of the storm and under tremendous pressure. When he was restrained in the temple, through the photos of his relatives on the secretary's desk and the sincere interviews on the subway, we found the strength to resist to the end. Determination and confidence. When his spirit came through the mouths of ordinary people and firmly said that they would never surrender to the fascists, it really passed through the screen, passed through the barrier of more than 70 years, and hit my heart directly. This is why I particularly like the subway. The reason for that plot.

In addition to depicting a flesh-and-blood portrait of Churchill in three dimensions, the film also attempts to tell us through the lens why history chose Churchill to lead Britain, and even Europe, to victory? Why him?

There is a detail in the movie. When Churchill’s secretary went to the underground base of the war cabinet for the first time, a lot of round and square shots were used.

For example, this shot

And this shot

There are no rules! These close-ups all imply rules and order. The dialogue also mentioned that once secrets are leaked, there will be severe penalties.

The data room is an extremely confidential place. However, in order to explain to his secretary the reasons for abandoning the Calais garrison, Churchill took her directly into the restricted area and explained it in detail.

Why?

Because he wants to do it! Just do whatever you want, he has always been such a person, going his own way and being unique! After that, too, if I wanted to take the subway, I would go alone.

Then why should we express this characteristic of Churchill? Don’t forget, war often means breaking rules. When Hitler launched the war, it was against the rules and destroyed order!

And when he broke into the restricted area with his secretary, he opened the door and saw the square window frame, subtext: Break the rules!

These all tell us that Churchill has never been a stickler for rules, otherwise he would not have gone against everyone else's opinions, because this itself is against the rules, and he only acted according to his own heart!

Break the rules and follow your heart! Some of your behaviors are for others to see, and some are what you want to do in your heart. Only when you are determined to do something in your heart and let everyone see your heart, this is the most important thing!

Churchill has always been a maverick. He doesn’t follow the rules, and he doesn’t think too much about other people’s feelings. He completely follows his own ideas. To use a common saying, this is called: When I think of it, It's one out. He allows everyone to see his inner strength and perseverance, so he can generate charisma and ultimately gain support! It is this kind of weirdo who is the only person who can turn the tide and change the fate of Britain in the darkest moment.

True History

Darkest Hour is a biographical film, and the setting of the film draws on a large number of historical facts. Then, in order to more conveniently portray the characters, the film made some artistic processing of some historical figures and historical facts.

For example, this movie’s portrayal of Chamberlain. In the film, Chamberlain obstructed Churchill after he came to power. In order to seek peace, he secretly plotted to overthrow Churchill's cabinet.

Historically, after Churchill came to power, Chamberlain gave his full support. Churchill came to power because of the support of the opposition parties, but the hearts and minds of the Conservative Party were still with Chamberlain.

Despite being humiliated and resigned before, Chamberlain still encouraged the Conservatives to support Churchill on various occasions, which was in line with his old-fashioned gentleman's style. In the film, Churchill's inaugural speech of "fighting for victory at all costs" was silenced after Chamberlain's speech because Chamberlain did not express his position; in history, this speech received absolute support of 381 votes to 0.

Another example is Foreign Secretary Halifax, the most supported prime ministerial candidate within the Conservative Party. The film portrays him as someone who naturally disliked Churchill and was his opponent from the beginning. In fact, the real Halifax had a good personal relationship with Churchill. The two men did play a rivalry at the meeting on "War or peace with Germany and Britain?" Judging from the minutes of the public meeting in 1970, there were only 5 decision-makers at the meeting. Except for Halifax who firmly demanded peace, the others were quickly persuaded by Churchill and agreed not to negotiate peace with Germany. For this reason, Halifax also threatened to resign. Churchill interrupted the meeting and took him to the garden to talk secretly for a while. Halifax said that he would not resign. And when Churchill announced in the name of the cabinet that Britain would not negotiate peace with Germany, Halifax did not object.

There are other details, so I won’t go into them here. Other experts on Zhihu have also analyzed a lot.

In general, Darkest Hour is an excellent film with excellent film technology, good soundtrack, reasonable use of lighting, ups and downs of the plot, and excellent actors. The only slight flaw is that as a movie about political figures, it contains many political metaphors and the political tradition of the European continent. If the audience doesn't know much about it, they will not understand the reason while watching the movie and feel a little bored.