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  • The Critic Magazine

    Joe Wright: Auteur of awfulness

    Feb 24, 2022 4 minutes

    IN THE 2017 WORLD WAR TWO FILM Darkest Hour, there is a would-be showstopping scene towards the end. Winston Churchill has recently become Prime Minister, replacing Neville Chamberlain, but he is beset by a cabinet, led by the oleaginous Lord Halifax, who favour a course of appeasement towards Hitler and Nazi Germany.

    Churchill, portrayed under heavy make up and in a fat suit by Gary Oldman, heads to the London Underground to consult a conveniently racially, socially and sexually diverse group of Londoners about what should be done (“What is the matter? Have you never seen a prime minister ride the Underground before?”).

    One by one, the awestruck Londoners offer their unanimous counsel

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