Churchill

According to a BBC poll taken in 2002, Winston Churchill was “the greatest Briton that ever lived.” Filmmaker Jonathan Teplitzky's Churchill imagines a moment just before D-Day, as Allied forces prepare to liberate Nazi-occupied France on June 6, 1944. Still riddled with guilt over his role in the disastrous 1915 Gallipoli Campaign in Turkey during the previous war with Germany, Churchill (Brian Cox) is wracked with doubt. He vehemently opposes Operation Overlord's amphibious attack on the French coastline, insisting that, “We must fix this broken plan before it ends in tragedy.” Swilling Scotch and throwing tantrums in an ongoing battle with depression, Churchill antagonizes his long-suffering wife, Clementine (Miranda Richardson), along with his frustrated military partners: Britain's Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery (Julian Wadham) and Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower (John Slattery), the Allies' supreme commander. The most memorable scene occurs between cigar-chomping Churchill and King George VI (James Purefoy), as the latter gently but firmly reminds his Prime Minister precisely where their duties lie. Unfortunately, this is a distorted, ponderous portrait of Churchill, a simplistic docudrama that is further hampered by Lorne Balfe's overbearing musical score. What is outstanding is the performance by Cox, who nails the hulking statesman's stentorian oratorical skills and surly, jaw-jutting glare. Cox receives stalwart support from Richardson and Purefoy, along with Richard Durden as Churchill's Boer War colleague/aide Jan Smuts, and Ella Purnell as Churchill's new, reverential secretary. But this is ultimately a talky and repetitive tale that relates a questionable historical footnote. Optional. [Note: DVD/Blu-ray extras include a behind-the-scenes featurette (23 min.) and a booklet. Bottom line: a small extras package for a disappointing film.] (S. Granger)