Albert FinneyThe Gathering Storm (DVD)

A love story and a tale of political redemption frame two engaging performances by Albert Finney and Vanessa Redgrave in “The Gathering Storm,” a detailed look at Winston Churchill’s determined political revival in the years prior to World War II. The hand of the BBC lays heavy on this talky production that’s more “Masterpiece Theater” than HBO’s usual edgy fare—which is all to the benefit of this fine movie, as one character after another enters Churchill’s world with words of either encouragement or caution. Espionage, seemingly a favorite subject of exec producers Ridley and Tony Scott, is only a peripheral part of “Storm,” mainly the manner in which covert information is passed along, yet it provides a sturdy vehicle for the wondrous Linus Roache as Foreign Office exec Ralph Wigram, who finds himself in a bit of a pickle despite his anti-Hitler stance.Physically, Finney makes for a great Churchill, and the mannerisms, not to mention the deep, authoritative tone in his voice, all suggest tremendous character study on Finney’s part. Hugh Whitemore’s script captures Britain’s future prime minister as he is reconstructing himself from has-been blowhard concerned with Gandhi to the man who foresaw the Nazi threat. Churchill is seen formulating speeches, working on his cadence, writing articles and editing himself extensively, and sticking to his guns after taking unpopular stances; he does these tasks anywhere, from the bathtub to bars to the grounds around his mansion where he paints landscapes.“Gathering” assiduously tiptoes through Brit history of the mid-1930s without mentioning trouble among the royals or Neville Chamberlain’s attempts to talk Hitler out of storming Czechoslovakia or Poland. Churchill’s vision of preparedness was translated as war-mongering, and indeed, nothing brings him greater political joy than the message, delivered at pic’s end, “Winston is back!” Pic grants Churchill considerable humanity: His love for England, shot beautifully by Peter Hannan, and wife Clemmie (played beguilingly by Redgrave) are the forces that guide him, not the desire to plant the Union Jack in foreign territories.Telepic covers the years 1934-39, and at the outset, Churchill is a staunch yet outmoded imperialist. “England is lost in a pacifist dream,” he says early on, depressed by his lack of power, near-bankruptcy and, on the political front, the rising support for Adolf Hitler. Churchill writes opinion pieces for various newspapers and makes political speeches that initially are heckled by the small groups in attendance. As time passes, his speeches are heard by an increasingly larger and accepting audience.The shift of concern to Hitler’s growing power and the mobilization of workers gains Churchill the support and friendship of Wigram, who uses his Foreign Office access to get his hands on secret information. Wigram’s involvement stems from his own plight — Churchill has convinced him, quite rightly, that Hitler’s racial cleansing would mean no life for Wigram’s disabled 4-year-old son (Laurie Flexman). Eventually, the spy life is too difficult for this mild-mannered do-gooder to handle. His domestic bliss is threatened when Clemmie takes off for an “adventure,” leaving Churchill to re-establish himself on yet another front, the home.Redgrave gives Finney a run for his money on the acting front. She is consistently dignified, and her two mood shifts — one’s to anger, the other to reflection — are startlingly affecting. Redgrave inhabits a character removed from the history books and a thoroughly believable one at that; she is the embodiment of a support system that gets pushed to the hilt one time too many yet remains capable of recovery. When she returns from her trip and shares in her husband’s triumph, her expression of joy is bountiful and all-giving, a distinct contrast to the cautious looks of love she proffers early in the film.Key supporting players — Jim Broadbent, Tom Wilkinson, Derek Jacobi and Tom Hiddleston — provide an aristocratic air around Churchill, though none of the parts beyond Wigram is particularly meaty. Celia Imrie, as his assistant Mrs. P, and Ronnie Barker, who as David Inches commands the 18 staff members, take their roles of subservience and imbue them with a subtle, welcome touch of propriety.Richard Loncraine directs “Gathering Storm” almost as a dance, steadily building the story, the interplay between Churchill and all who enter his world. “Storm” ends up playing gracefully due to his efforts, heavy as it is on historical data. Ending, for some, may appear too crass and feel-good, but it seems inevitable that “Storm” would end with something of a victory.Hannan’s photography captures the exquisite English countryside and the vastness of Churchill’s country estate Chartwell, where much of the pic was shot. It supplies an intriguing dividing line between Churchill, who enjoyed a regal lifestyle, and the frugally minded Clemmie, who was never fond of the house. Conversely, shots in London come at the viewer from a wide range of angles, many of them used to enhance the compact conditions people in which lived and worked.Howard Goodall’s score is huge, like the sort of red wine one would drink with wild boar, and in places it threatens the pic’s somber tones. Moments in which the filmmakers have chosen to go with a backdrop of nothing but silence are quite moving.

…as in, “their finest hour.” After his rather forced retirement in 1945, Winston Churchill would write his six-volume account of the Second World War, a war in which he lead the British people, with the accompaniment of numerous allies, to victory. This movie takes its title from Volume One of his work, “The Gathering Storm.” Volume Two is the most memorable, with a title that has passed into common usage into the English language: “Their Finest Hour.” It describes the year that Britain stood nearly alone against the Nazi juggernaut, the summer of 1940 to the summer of 1941. It is a story that has now been told many times, “with the few,” as Churchill called them, the pilots of the Spitfires, who were seriously outnumbered, rising to fight the Messerschmitts of the Luftwaffe, powered sometimes, as this movie indicates, by engines that the British had sold Germany (118, to be precise).William Manchester has written the definitive biography of Churchill, which is entitled “The Last Lion.” It is over 3000 pages. With a dab of realism in my advancing years, I know I will never read it, and thus I chose to view this movie, directed by Richard Loncraine, and starring Albert Finney (originally of “Tom Jones” fame, the 1963 movie) as an elderly Churchill, along with Vanessa Redgrave as his wife, Clementine (“Clemmie”). The movie was released in 2002.Curmudgeon, patriot, imperialist, racist (of the “W.O.G.’s begin at Calais” variety), a man of eloquence, the Lord of the Manor (being Chartwell, in his case, in southeastern England, where “the Germans will walk through on their way to London”), a painter (sometimes in his tux!), a man who enjoyed more than his share of toddies but one who would also be unable to satisfy his most-of-the-time faithful wife (Cause and Effect…or was Lady Castlerosse’s quip correct: “there is no such thing as an impotent man, only an incompetent woman”? No doubt, more than a few might object to that “burden shifting” analysis). At any rate, it is all here, or, at least most of it, in this portrait of the Churchills, during the ‘30’s.It stops far short of a hagiographic portrait, noting the various very negative things Churchill said about Gandhi and the necessity of retaining the “imperial jewel.” On the other hand, Stanley Baldwin, the Prime Minister was portrayed a bit too negatively, for his pacifism, blocking Churchill’s “vision” of what was to come, yet the movie was willing to redeem Baldwin with two words: Passchendaele and the Somme. Completely omitted was Churchill’s architect role in the Gallipoli disaster.Frankly I’d be most uncomfortable having a staff of 18 in my home, any one of which could be summoned to pick up the plate that I dropped, and clean up the mess. Those scenes of the very upper class’ life in England make me easy (and didn’t Bertrand Russell, during the 30’s, in England, complain about the difficulties of getting good servants?) Another difficult aspect of his life I found hard to fathom, as was brought out in the movie, is how much inspiration he drew from his ancestor, the Duke of Marlborough, who fought bravely and won, in the Battle of Blenheim, in 1704, in the War of the Spanish Succession. (Quick, is there anyone who can state what the War of the Spanish Succession was about, without relying on Google?)Overall, a fairly decent look at a man, flawed and all, who was there at the hour his country needed him. 4-stars.

Compré tres películas para regalo de mi hermana. Quedó encantada con la calidad cinematográfica. Las películas muestran diferentes etapas en la vida de Winston Churchill antes de y durante la Segunda Guerra Mundial. "Gathering Storm", y su secuela, "Into the Storm, fueron producidas por HBO" lo cual es sinónimo de calidad y realzadas por las excelentes actuaciones de Albert Finney y Brendan Gleeson en el papel de Winston Churchill. "Las Horas Mas Obscuras" es protagonizada por Gary Oldman tambien en forma extraordinaria. Muy buenas películas para ver una tras otra o por separado.

Es una gran película

S‘il ne faut voir qu’un seul film (les « dramatiques » et séries télévisées comprises) sur Churchill et sa femme Clementine, c’est celui-là. Deux des plus grands acteurs britanniques du XXe siècle ont l’âge, le physique et le talent exceptionnel exigé du rôle. Les « scènes de ménage » homériques suivies de réconciliations attendries et attendrissantes (que l’entourage atteste : elle ne sont pas inventées) sont des numéros d’anthologie. Les déboires politiques de Churchill dus à l’incompréhension, voire l’aveuglement, de ses collègues et concitoyens face à la montée du péril hitlérien sont magnifiquement restitués. Les Français devront faire l’effort de regarder la version sous-titrée : il serait dommage de manquer la parfaite imitation de la voix de Churchill par le grand Albert Finney.

Great, just Great

Rather slow