An Injustice to Winston Churchill

Washington Times ^ | 11/20/17 | Kyle Smith

[iowamark]

Joe Wright’s Darkest Hour butchers history to make the British prime minister a much less decisive figure than he actually was.

Because an irresolute and small-minded age applies its own neuroses backward to history, because actors love to portray internal torment, and because we fancy ourselves so sophisticated that we know the official story of the past to be a ruse, movies about important historical figures have become less inspiring and “more human,” at times even iconoclastic...

Now it’s Churchill’s turn to be shrunken down to a more manageable size. In Darkest Hour, which is set across May and June of 1940, the English director Joe Wright and his star Gary Oldman conspire to create a somewhat comical, quavering, and very human prime minister...

All of this is a gross exaggeration. Churchill told his War Cabinet on May 28 “that every man of you would rise up and tear me down from my place if I were for one moment to contemplate parley or surrender. If this long island story of ours is to end at last, let it end only when each one of us lies choking in his own blood upon the ground.”..

The clincher is that traffic halts the premier’s car and he is forced to take the Underground to Parliament...

Wright and screenwriter Anthony McCarten would have us believe that the ghostwriters of the immortal speech to follow were random Londoners Churchill met on that train, where they gave him both courage and some of the actual words he later used. But those events did not occur; the only time Churchill ever rode the Underground was during the general strike of 1926..

[iowamark]

Churchill riding the Tube?

[iowamark]

Sorry, the source is National Review, not Washington Times. Mods can correct.

[iowamark]

Premiers Wednesday 11/22

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4555426/

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/darkest_hour_2017/

Official trailers:

https://youtu.be/eFFj2gS9UWs

https://youtu.be/C6c89P9J8cM

[BroJoeK]

"Because an irresolute and small-minded age applies its own neuroses backward to history, because actors love to portray internal torment, and because we fancy ourselves so sophisticated that we know the official story of the past to be a ruse, movies about important historical figures have become less inspiring and “more human,” at times even iconoclastic... "

Seems to me the Brits have been trying to tear down Churchill for many years.
His fathers' people don't seem to like him that much.

Fortunately, his mothers' people still love him as much as she did.

;-)

[SunkenCiv]

the star seems to be a fan of Churchill:

Gary Oldman Does Spot-On Robert De Niro and Christopher Walken Impressions
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JFEjVf7Nts

[Mad Dawg]

Nice post. Thanks.

Now I undwrstand what’s wrong with the new Murder on the Orient Express. Certainty is now considered a vice

[Candor7]

Because an irresolute and small-minded age applies its own neuroses backward to history, because actors love to portray internal torment, and because we fancy ourselves so sophisticated that we know the official story of the past to be a ruse, movies about important historical figures have become less inspiring and “more human,” at times even iconoclastic... >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Well said. Churchill is denigrated because his achievement was to defeat Fascism of every stripe in the entirety of Europe and in the West, not just the Nazis. But now as the Malthusian thought which created the Holocaust is now taken up by the nationalist socialist left, and as the left in Canada and the United States become increasingly Liberal Fascist, they define those who fought for our freedom as mere pikers. It is to laugh. The only reason they get away with it is that now most WWWII veterans are dead or in their dotage.

And we do suffer from an Alisnsky based liberal fascism which governs by political correctness and the selective enforcement of law, and rule by fiat.
( Yes, read it here: http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2009/05/barack_obama_the_quintessentia_1.html ),

So the liberal fascists seek to redefine history to make it more palpable, and to rein in the public who revere Churchill, and to define a political correctness to do so, as a matter of control.

Remember Obama removed the bust of Churchill from the oval office on his first day. Churchill was a racist, you see! ( Sheesh!) The Socialist left fear Churchill, his thoughts can result in their undoing.

We have had a plethora of re-definitions like this. I abhor them. The cigars Churchill smoked are cancer agents. Cowboys are broken on Broke Back Mountain. And the rest of us are to shut up?

Eff them one and all.

Join the International Churchill Society, they preserve his true legacy.

https://www.winstonchurchill.org/

[rlmorel]

Sigh. I have been looking forward to this movie for over a year. I hope this is just nit picking.

[Drawsing]

If this long island story of ours is to end at last, let it end only when each one of us lies choking in his own blood upon the ground.”..

That is a powerful quote.

[Dr. Ursus]

This movie and a Dickens movie opening on the same day!

[gr8eman]

Remember there were a lot of Nazi sympathizers in England even during the bombing of London. I believe Churchill had them rounded up and chucked into the clink. Perfect analogy is why the libs HATED Nixon so much and had to take him down. Had nothing to do with his policies (liberal), it was because he went after Alger Hiss which was unforgivable for them.

[EliRoom8]

I’m not too keen on the other Churchill HBO movie, “Into the Storm.” Some of the same reasons as stated in the posted article.

[rlmorel]

I am with you. I desperately hoped this movie would be great, and I like Gary Oldham as an actor. Trump did a lot of things I wholeheartedly agree with, but his rescue of the Churchill Bust was one of the most symbolically significant things he has done as President.

I just looked at my stats which state: "You've posted a total of 110 threads and 51,833 replies."

At least six or seven of those 110 threads I started as a Freeper had to do with the Churchill Bust.

I have always been a huge fan of Churchill, and several years ago I went on a road trip to nowhere and everywhere:

I had one week. My plan (made up as I went) was to drive out to the Four Corners Monument, but as I had dinner in Louisville, KY and planned out, I realized I simply didn't have enough time.

So, I thought "I have never been to Nebraska...I'll go there."

Closed my eyes, put my finger on a map of Nebraska, and chose Humboldt, Nebraska at random. However, the only thing it seemed to be known for was the murder of a transsexual, so I chose again and selected Tecumseh, Nebraska, which had a far more interesting history! (Originally named after the mistress of the General who defeated Tecumseh, and the town people were so incensed by that, they voted to change the name of the town to Tecumseh!

Anyway, I was driving through Missouri (which I came to recognize as an extremely blue state) I saw a sign for the Churchill Museum!

I nearly slammed on my brakes...a Churchill Museum, I never knew there was such a thing in the USA! It was great...where he gave his famous "Iron Curtain" speech!

[rlmorel]

I was warned off of it, never saw it.

[rlmorel]

What is the Dickens movie? Please tell me it is a good version of “The Tale of Two Cities” (one of my favorite books)!

[rlmorel]

I never looked at it quite that way. I always thought the Nazi sympathizers were simply left to simmer in their own history of sympathizing and were generally ridiculed and ostracized by their countrymen.

Was there actually a campaign to formally go after them and take them down (other than to simply discredit them)?

[I want the USA back]

Churchill was a great statesman. He said the truth about the religion of death and destruction. Explains why bammy sent his statue back - bammy was bringing *slam into this country.

[hanamizu]

I was driving through Missouri (which I came to recognize as an extremely blue state)

---

Republicans control both houses of the General Assembly, all elected Executive branch positions. With the exception of STL, KC, & Columbia, not a lot of blue showing on our map.

[rlmorel]

I made that judgement based on the various signs I saw (not strictly political ones, but signs telling you what you must or must not do, laws you cannot break, etc.)

I come from a very blue state, and it was very similar to what I saw on the highway in Missouri. But, as you point out, I came across the river in St. Louis and drove north to the tip of Nebraska, so...I was likely seeing a portion bluer than the rest)

I will say, crossing into Nebraska, I have never seen a more abrupt change-Nebraska seemed very much a working state.

Thanks for that context!

[rlmorel]

I was curious, because being an amateur historian, I have always known Missouri to be in the clutches of the Democratic Party machine, with Harry Truman being among the highest of climbers. I saw this excerpt:

"... Missouri joined the union in 1821, and for 187 years no Democrat won the presidency without carrying the state. When Democrats lost, they at least kept it close here. Even Michael Dukakis lost Missouri by only 4 points. Then, in 2008, Barack Obama won the presidency while losing Missouri. It was close! Only 3,903 votes separated Obama from McCain, while Ralph Nader—of course, who the hell else?—snagged 17,813..."

What I was seeing was likely the remnants of the Democratic machine that lived so long in that state. We can only hope Barack Obama (among others) destroyed the party there. Little hope for my state, but as is commonly said by those who wish to exploit or destroy hope: "Hope dies last!"