Into the Storm

Originally broadcast on HBO, Thaddeus O'Sullivan's re-imagining of the rise and fall of Winston Churchill's wartime government is fueled by Brendan Gleeson's wonderfully irascible interpretation of the celebrated leader, which earned him a richly deserved Emmy Award. In addition to capturing Churchill's distinctive physical and vocal dimensions, Gleeson also taps into the leader's brutally contradictory personality, presenting Churchill not as a one-dimensional, too-good-to-be-true textbook hero, but rather with a baffling and often exasperating mix of bullying, bravado, sincerity, contempt, and determination. Viewers can easily imagine a man at war on two fronts—against the Axis forces and against himself. As a historic document, however, Into the Storm leaves something to be desired, bypassing large stretches of history—Lend-Lease and the Atlantic Charter are not mentioned, while the circumstances leading up to the 1945 election that unceremoniously dumped Churchill from power are barely touched upon. Janet McTeer, as Churchill's long-suffering wife, Clementine, deserves kudos for bringing a degree of warmth to the proceedings, but other supporting players—Len Cariou's haughty FDR, Iain Glen's lisping King George VI, Patrick Malahide's tightly wound Maj. Gen. Montgomery, and Aleksei Petrenko's booze-fueled Stalin—feel more like caricatures than genuine personalities. Nonetheless, Gleeson's forceful performance makes any shortcomings easy to overlook. Recommended. (P. Hall)