Darkest Hour is a 2017 war drama film directed by Joe Wright and written by Anthony McCarten. Set in May 1940, it stars Gary Oldman as Winston Churchill and is an account of his early days as Prime Minister during World War II and the May 1940 War Cabinet Crisis, while Nazi Germany's Wehrmacht swept across Western Europe and threatened to defeat the United Kingdom. The German advance leads to friction at the highest levels of government between those who would make a peace treaty with Adolf Hitler, and Churchill, who refused.

The film earned Oldman his first Academy Award for Best Actor, as well as the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role, the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama and the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role. At the 90th Academy Awards the film earned six nominations, including Best Picture, and won for Best Actor and Best Makeup and Hairstyling. At the 71st British Academy Film Awards it received nine nominations including Best Film and Outstanding British Film.

In May 1940, the opposition Labour Party in Parliament demands the resignation of British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain for being too weak in the face of the Nazi onslaught. Chamberlain tells Conservative Party advisers that he wants Lord Halifax as his successor, but Halifax does not feel the time is right. Chamberlain is forced to choose the only man whom the opposition parties will accept: Winston Churchill, the First Lord of the Admiralty, who had correctly predicted the danger from Adolf Hitler before the war.

Churchill tries to dismiss his new secretary Elizabeth Layton for mishearing him, which earns him a rebuke from his wife Clementine. King George VI, who strongly distrusts Churchill due to his support for his brother Edward VIII during the Abdication Crisis, reluctantly invites him to form a government. Churchill includes Chamberlain (as Lord President of the Council) and Halifax (as Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs). That day, Germany invades Belgium and the Netherlands.

Churchill has a poor reputation in Parliament because of his record in the Admiralty, his role in the Gallipoli Campaign in the First World War, his views on India and his past defection to the Liberal Party. Parliament reacts coolly to Churchill's first speech promising "Blood, toil, tears and sweat". Chamberlain and Halifax are appalled by Churchill's refusal to negotiate for peace, and begin to plan to resign from the government to force a vote of no confidence, creating a situation in which Halifax would presumably become the Prime Minister. After they attempt to force him to admit this in writing, Churchill reminds Chamberlain of his role in the 1938 Munich Agreement and the failure of appeasement.

Churchill visits French Prime Minister Paul Reynaud, who thinks Churchill delusional for not at least admitting that the Allies are losing the Battle of France, while Churchill becomes furious that the French do not even have a plan to counterattack. Although U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt is sympathetic to Churchill's plight, he is limited in action by an isolationist Congress and the Neutrality Acts. Churchill draws ire from his cabinet and his own advisers for delivering a radio address in which he falsely implies the Allies to be winning the war, earning him a rebuke from the King. Halifax and Chamberlain continue to push to use Italian Ambassador Giuseppe Bastianini as intermediary to negotiate with Germany.

The British Expeditionary Force is trapped at Dunkirk and Calais. Against the advice of the War Cabinet, Churchill orders Brigadier Claude Nicholson in Calais to lead the 30th Infantry Brigade in a rear guard action to distract the enemy and buy time for the soldiers at Dunkirk to evacuate. Layton's brother is killed during the retreat.

The debacle in France causes the War Cabinet to support negotiating with Germany. Under heavy pressure, Churchill agrees to consider a negotiated peace, but is unable to bring himself to dictate a letter requesting peace with Hitler. George VI unexpectedly visits Churchill; the King explains that he has come to like Churchill, and encourages him to continue the war. Still uncertain of what to do, Churchill impulsively rides the London Underground (for the first time in his life) and asks the startled passengers their opinion; the civilians unanimously want to continue to fight. Churchill meets with the Outer Cabinet and other Members of Parliament, and receives their support. The evacuation of troops from Dunkirk, Operation Dynamo, is successful.

As Churchill prepares to address Parliament, Halifax asks Chamberlain to continue with their plan to resign, but Chamberlain decides to listen to the address first. Toward the end of his speech, Churchill proclaims that "we shall fight on the beaches" should the Germans invade. Chamberlain decides to support Churchill, and Parliament applauds the Prime Minister's defiance. The film ends by stating that Operation Dynamo rescued almost all of the 300,000 allied soldiers; Chamberlain would die of cancer in December 1940 while Halifax would be dismissed from the war cabinet and instated as the Ambassador to the United States; and that the Allies would finally defeat Germany in May 1945, after which Churchill was voted out of power in the general election. 1

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