Darkest Hour

Anthony McCarten makes a dramatic claim in his brilliant Winston Churchill book.

The British prime minister who extolled his countrymen to never surrender, to fight in the streets, fight in the air, etc., considered entering peace talks with Europe-devouring Adolf Hitler. McCarten claims Churchill weighed the possibilities of surrender to waive the possibility of a Nazi Germany invasion of the British Isles.

The claim is situated in the darkest hour of fall 1940, within the first days of Churchill’s becoming prime minister. British troops were being ferried by a flotilla of civilian boats at Dunkirk, France was about to collapse, Germany seemed unstoppable in its blitzkrieg across Europe, Churchill had yet to consolidate his fragile government, and other well-intentioned and patriotic British leaders called for a brokered peace as soon as possible.

McCarten said a bit of doubt is understandable, even weighing the possibility of capitulation to Hitler, given everything England faced in the coming years. Even though that moment of doubt flies in the face of all we think we know about Churchill.

But McCarten’s contention does not lessen Churchill. Instead, the idea of a Churchill weighing all of the possibilities, even considering a troubled peace, then refusing it, casts him as an even larger figure while also rendering him as far more human.

“Darkest Hour: How Churchill Brought England Back from the Brink” is the companion volume to the coming movie “Darkest Hour” starring Gary Oldman as Churchill.

Agree or disagree with McCarten’s contention, he writes a dramatic narrative based on historical research. It often reads as a novel. He delves into the study of Churchill’s triad of famed speeches within his earliest days as prime minister. McCarten captures a heroic and human portrait of Churchill in a relatively short number of pages.

If the movie captures even a glimmer of what the book offers, it should make a historical film that’s a must-see.