The Darkest Hour Historical Accuracy

The Darkest Hour (2017) The movie The Darkest Hour directed by Joe Wright depicts Winston Churchill in the early days of World War Two. Churchill, the newly appointed British prime minister must decide whether to negotiate with Adolf Hitler or fight on against incredible odds. During the next four weeks in 1940, Churchill cemented his legacy as his courageous decisions and leadership helped change the course of world history. In my opinion I feel the movie is a good source of history due to the accuracy of the characters and the way they are depicted in the movie. In almost every scene we see Churchill smoking a cigar causing his voice to become raspy during his infamous speeches. While some may see this as unimportant Churchill, in real life, smoked an average of 9 cigars a day. This shows the

Churchill felt that Great Britain should stay in the war and continue fighting despite the other government officials' views. They felt a resurrection of their army was impossible due to the lack of soldiers and the known strength of the Nazis. The characters in the movie are an exact representation of who they were in real life. Every character shown in the movie impacted what decisions Churchill made in real life. World War Two takes place throughout the whole movie which is what causes Churchill to make the decisions he did. One piece of evidence from the movie that seems to be inaccurate about the film is how citizens were unfazed about the surrounding war. When Churchill is in his car on his way to meet the king towards the beginning of the movie we see the people of Great Britain not affected by what is happening in surrounding countries. They continue to do their jobs and seem unaffected by the war. This is historically inaccurate because as stated by the Museum of London, “During the six years Britain was at war, 1939–45, life was frequently hard for Londoners. Food and clothing were rationed and in short supply. Bombing caused fear,