Churchill is a 2017 British historical biopic film directed by Jonathan Teplitzky, starring Brian Cox as Winston Churchill.
The film is notable for being one of the few fictional depictions of Churchill that doesn't climax in his Glory Days of the summer of 1940, when he was a pivotal figure in rallying the population of the United Kingdom in the fight against Nazi Germany during World War II.
Instead, the story is set in a few days running up to, during and after the Allied invasion of Normandy in 1944. It depicts Churchill as a less inspiring and heroic figure than he's normally shown as, and more as a weary old man full of apprehension about the possible casualties of the Allied invasion. This Churchill is not the usual dispenser of rousing speeches: instead, his generals keep him away from the soldiers because they're worried that he's going to freak them out with his fears about the death toll. This is shown to be a result of Churchill's My Greatest Failure attitude towards the largely disastrous Gallipoli campaign in 1915, where the allied plan to occupy the Ottoman straits (a plan which Churchill had been very much behind) resulted in the loss of thousands of British, French, Australian and New Zealand troops, and a humiliating failure.
Churchill is about Churchill's struggle to accept that Operation Overlord will not inevitably end in disaster, and that his role in the war is no longer to direct events, as it had been in 1940, but to delegate its running to the Allied generals: Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force Dwight D. Eisenhower (John Slattery), Commander of 21st Army Group Bernard Law Montgomery (Julian Wadham), and Chief of the Imperial General Staff Alan Brooke (Danny Webb). He also learns to accept the superior wisdom of his exasperated but devoted wife Clemmie (Miranda Richardson) and King George VI (James Purefoy).
The film earned mixed reviews, most of the negative ones coming from hardcore Churchill fans who were dismayed by their portrayal of the iconic figure as a doubting, ageing worrier, rather than the usual "British Bulldog" image of him. However, Churchill's doubts about the efficacy of Overlord were Truth in Television, as is the bizarre incident where he decides that he and George VI will personally observe the Normandy landings. In the end, it's less of a faithful attempt to show exactly what happened, more of a chamber drama about Churchill's own fears and his resistance to change.
Churchill contains examples of:
- Adaptational Location Change: The film is set in the south of England, but at one point Churchill and Montgomery have a conversation at the National Monument of Scotland in Edinburgh, which makes no geographical sense whatever except that the film was made with money from Creative Scotland.note
- A Father to His Men: Churchill thinks he's one of these, and that Eisenhower, Monty and Brooke are Armchair Military (Big Brass variant) who aren't taking enough care about casualties. He comes to accept that they're all The Brigadier, while he's being a Cowardly Lion.
- Artistic License – History: Churchill didn't actually attempt to persuade Eisenhower, Montgomery and Brooke to proceed with an alternative plan in the days running up to Overlord. He expressed his doubts at the planning stage. He considered Overlord to be the least bad plan available.
- Blood Is Squicker in Water: The film opens with Churchill walking on a beach and having a vision of the sea running red with the blood of soldiers.
- Coming of Age Story: The filmmakers noted that this is one of these for Churchill himself, even though he's seventy.
- Heroic BSoD: Churchill has one of these on the eve of the invasion, convinced that it will lead to thousands of allied deaths and won't bring the war any closer to an end.
- My Greatest Failure: Churchill regards the failed Dardanelles campaign in 1915 as this, and thinks that D-Day will become the same kind of thing.
- Number Two: Jan Smuts is this to Churchill.
- Perilous Old Fool: Eisenhower and Montgomery regard Churchill as this, insofar as Churchill is unwilling to accept Operation Overlord as the plan for the Allied invasion.
- Prayer Is a Last Resort: When Churchill has failed to persuade the generals to go along with his alternative strategy for the invasion, he resorts to praying to God to give them bad weather so that the invasion will be postponed. The fact that he seldom does this is lampshaded when he forgets to say "Amen" at the end.
- Risking the King: Churchill and George VI are literally going to do this, until George thinks better of it.
- Royals Who Actually Do Something: Churchill gets very excited about this trope when he has the idea that he and George VI should observe the Normandy landings in person, but George VI points out to him that both of them do do something, just not this thing, because the consequences if either of them were to be killed would be far worse than the benefits if they actually did it.
- Rousing Speech: Montgomery gives one of these to his own men, and Churchill concedes that it's better than the one he himself would have given. Churchill later gives one himself, but after the invasion, to reassure everyone that it's going to work.
- Senseless Sacrifice: Churchill thinks that the Normandy landings will be this.
- Sophisticated as Hell: Monty's speech to his men.Montgomery: As you can see, today we have some important visitors, come to wish you well. We're going soon. You're young, all of you. Many of you have never been under fire, and you don't know what you're about to go through. Some of you are fearful. That's natural. But let's band together. Look out for your brothers in arms, and they'll look out for you. So let's all get in there, shoot straight, smash those bastards, get the job done, and get back here!Soldier: Let's do it, lads! [general noises of agreement]Montgomery: And I want you all to remember one thing, as you land on those beaches. What's your most important possession? [Pause. The soldiers look puzzled] It's your life. And I'm going to save it for you. So what are we going to do?Soldiers: Smash the hun!Montgomery: You and I together, we'll see this thing through! [Mass cheering]
- Unwanted Assistance: Churchill comes to give a Rousing Speech to Montgomery's troops, but Montgomery correctly decides that Churchill is likely to infect the troops with his own doubts, and forestalls him.
- Churchill's plan that he and George VI will observe the invasion is shown as this: George VI goes along with it to begin with, but then persuades Churchill that their duty is to stay at home and motivate people, not lead from the front.
- What the Hell, Hero?: When Churchill talks about the destruction he thinks will be wreaked on the allied soldiers on D-Day, his secretary Helen Garrett gives him one of these, pointing out that people need to be assured that the invasion won't have been in vain.
