I can’t recall how it came about but when I was around 13 or 14 I had a crush
on Winston Churchill. I thought so highly of him that I endeavored to read
his four volume History of the British Speaking Peoples. Though I doubt if
I ever finished I do recall it being very accessible to read for a young
lad. I am not sure how good a historian Churchill was but he could tell a
good yarn. Churchill was a great man in my mind.
Years later I came upon his dark brutish side – his virulent racism, his
love of Empire and Imperialism, his aristocratic condescension directed at
the natives of the third world countries that England ruled, his hard, ruthless
stand against their dreams for independence saying at one time “I do not
understand the squeamishness about the use of gas. I am strongly in favour
of using poisonous gas against uncivilised tribes.” As a young man he fought
in wars to suppress local rebellions and thought that Gandhi "ought to be
lain bound hand and foot at the gates of Delhi, and then trampled on by an
enormous elephant with the new Viceroy seated on its back." He had many failures
in his life, in particular at Gallipoli where as First Lord of the Admiralty
in WWI he had pushed for this invasion which turned out to be a disaster.
There was a lot of ugliness in his life that one senses he never much reflected
on in his great surety that he was right.
And yet this same man saved Western Democracy when it tottered on the abyss.
His resolve and inspiration kept England going when the rest of Europe lay
at Hitler’s feet or complicity aligned themselves with him. When the USA
refused to become involved under the maxim of America First. They were alone.
Their entire army of 300,000 troops was on the beach at Dunkirk encircled
by an overwhelming German army and air force. German invasion seemed very
probable. Many in his own party wanted him to negotiate for peace at any
cost with Hitler. But Churchill refused. Instead he went to Parliament and
gave his famous “We will fight on the beaches” speech and roused the country
to his side. And through the nightmare bombing of England, Churchill never
wavered from his belief that they could defeat this madman.
The film is titled the Darkest Hour, but in fact it focuses on Churchill’s
finest hours – from when he (Gary Oldman) became Prime Minister to Dunkirk
fighting his deep doubts, his cabinet and a world slipping into Fascism.
We too are going through dark times and this film should be a reminder that
freedom and democracy are worth fighting for. That those who enable evil
or stay silent will not be remembered well.
