Editor's note: On the morning of March 5, Beijing time, the 90th Academy Awards were held in Los Angeles. "Darkest Moment" won the Best Makeup and Hair Design Award and Best Actor Award.
When people stand on the right side of the historical process and look back at World War II, they often see the wise and powerful leaders, the bravery of warriors, and the unity of the people...
The popular Oscar film "Darkest Hour" brings the audience to the left of the historical trend line, allowing us to see a completely different scene - the known civilized world is rapidly collapsing, and the ending is unknown.
Gary Oldman, the starring actor of "Darkest Hour", always has a crazy aura. He doesn't look like Churchill himself at all, but his eyes are very similar.
"Darkest Hour" Stills
Churchill
It is because he is crazy enough that he will try to overcome the probability and he can live to death.
On May 10, 1940, Churchill took office as British Prime Minister .
reporter asked the new prime minister what plans he had, and he said, "Have champagne."
Churchill was born in an aristocratic family and served as a high-ranking government official for many years. He was considered a high-income group, and half of his annual salary was spent on buying wine. Because the alcohol expenses are too high, his financial situation is not optimistic. However, compared to other issues he will face or ignore, this is only a small problem.
"Darkest Hour" Stills
On the day Churchill took office, the German army invaded Netherlands , Belgium and Luxembourg . Luxembourg surrendered immediately, four days later, the Queen of Dutch went into exile in Britain, and 18 days later, the King of Belgium surrendered.
Previously, under the indulgence of the appeasement policy of Britain and France, Nazi Germany had annexed Austrian and acquired Czechoslovak , Norwegian , Danish and Polish .
Under the Nazi German blitzkrieg offensive, the entire European continent quickly fell, and the international situation was like a landslide.
Every smart person who judges the situation knows that the possibility of victory is close to zero.
Churchill said his plan was: "Victory, win at all costs, because you can't survive without victory."
Churchill became Prime Minister only by chance. However, his ex-her , Chamberlain, resigned due to a major route error (Challengerun pursued an appeasement policy, which was an important reason for the Nazis' growth in Europe), leaving a big hole that needs someone to fill. Chamberlain’s Conservative Party doesn’t know how to fill this pit, but he can’t hand over the position of prime minister to his old rival Labour Party or Liberal Party, so he pushed Churchill, a pseudo-conservative Party member who was always anti-Nazi.
Chamberlain and Hitler
Churchill at this time had neither party support nor mass base, and his reputation was even more messy: During the "World One", Britain suffered heavy casualties in the "Battle of Gallipoli", and he was considered to be inappropriate in command; the "gold standard" he promoted during his tenure as the Chancellor of the Finance Department also ended in failure. During his tenure as Home Secretary, he violently suppressed the workers' movement, so the left/intellectuals didn't like him either. In name, he belongs to the Conservative Party, but in fact, the Conservative Party does not regard him as his own.
The cabinet was completely unwilling to buy new Prime Minister Churchill, and there were still constant voices asking for peace talks with the Nazis. Churchill refused this because "When your head is in the tiger's mouth, you can't talk to it!"
Churchill, who was regarded as a great man from heaven by later generations, was a delirious alcoholic, a dangerous and crazy guy in the eyes of his colleagues at that time.
He started drinking whiskey from breakfast, and he usually had to "season" with whiskey when drinking water. He drank a bottle of wine or champagne for lunch and dinner, and then drank port wine and brandy until late at night.
In the movie, King George VI of England asked Churchill in disgust, "How did you start drinking in broad daylight?"
Churchill replied, "It's practiced."
France surrendered to Nazi Germany only a question of time. Most of the British army was trapped in France, which was already occupied by the enemy.About 400,000 soldiers were trapped in the port city of Dunkirk in northwestern France, across the English Channel from the British mainland. The air above the port has been controlled by the Luftwaffe, and the German ground forces are also advancing here.
Any attempt to rescue these soldiers will inevitably cost a serious casualty, and the expected results are not optimistic, but Churchill is determined to implement this retreat plan and is ready to bear all the consequences. Because almost all British troops trapped in France, if they lose these troops, Britain will lose the ability to resist.
In order to speed up the retreat, Churchill ordered the requisition of civilian ships along the coast; in order to cover the retreat, he also ordered a 4,000-man unit stationed in Calais to "do anything" to block the enemy troops heading to Dunkirk until all the members were killed. How many people can be withdrawn after "doing everything"? The most optimistic estimate is: 30,000 people.
This is Churchill's darkest moment. He has to face huge uncertainty, bear the lives of millions of people, and make extremely difficult choices.
has no allies, no reinforcements, no chance of winning, only a dead horse will be able to handle it.
"Darkest Hour" Stills
Churchill hid in the toilet and called the US Roosevelt President, hoping to borrow a warship or fighter plane, but he got an unhelpful answer. Even the fighter jets that the UK has purchased from the United States do not ship without shipping.
In the video, Roosevelt said, "Do you think this is OK: I can transport the planes you bought to the US-Canada border. You hire a horse team to drag across the border. Don't the planes have wheels? You drag them over with a horse.
The audience may think like Churchill: Are you kidding me? ! It is not true. The United States' Neutral Act does provide that it is illegal to transport weapons, ammunition and combat tools to the belligerent countries or transport them to any neutral port used by any belligerent country. In short, the United States at this time made up its mind to watch the fire from the other side of the river.
Later, the United States still helped the United Kingdom, but that was later. The United States signed the "An Act to Promote the Defense of the United States" in March 1941, allowing weapons and strategic supplies to allies that were fighting the Nazis.
It doesn't seem like it's been a long time? The Nazis could take down a country in a few days.
There is a phrase in English: gin up. gin-Gin is a common spirit in the UK. So what does "gin up" mean? You imagine: a person stuffed the liquor in front of him in a dark night, plucked up the courage to continue fighting - this was the situation in Churchill's daily life at that time.
(He couldn't afford to drink too expensive because of the consumption. Churchill's most common drink is the Johnny Walker entry-grade red whiskey without vintage)
On May 26, the 17th day after Churchill took office, Dunkirk's retreat, code-named "Operation Generator", began.
is not only a military ship, but also a variety of cruise ships, fishing boats, barges... "England's everything that can float to Dunkirk." The fog over the Strait provided cover for these ships. The German ground forces were ordered to delay their advance without coming to block them in time. It is said that the map in Hitler's hand was too old and he mistakenly thought that the surrounding mud was covered with mud, which would trap the tank troops. Before the
operation, the British predicted that at most 30,000 people would be withdrawn, but in fact they successfully withdrew 336,000 people. Churchill finally had the confidence to fight the Nazis.
The end of the movie is united as one looks
On June 4, Churchill delivered a famous speech, making it clear that Britain will fight the Nazis to the end. He expressed the will of the British people:
"We will fight to the end. We will fight in France, we will fight in the ocean, we will fight in the air with increasing confidence and stronger strength, we will defend the land at all costs, we will fight on the beach, we will fight at the enemy's landing point, we will fight in the fields and on the streets, we will fight in the mountains. We will never surrender."
had swept across Europe before, and it was the first time that it hit a nail.The German army bombarded the British for several months, but still failed to force the British to submit. Instead, they attacked the Soviet Union on a large scale, which greatly damaged their vitality in the battle with the fighting nations. This was the beginning of the Nazi failure.
After Churchill learned that the Soviet Union and Germany had started war, he immediately gave up his anti-communist position that he had adhered to for more than 20 years and formed an alliance with the Soviet Union. After that, Churchill was sometimes able to use caviar given by Comrade Stalin with champagne - until Churchill delivered the " Iron Curtain Speech " in 1946.
What's left is history.
Finally, let’s say something that most people don’t know, a fairy tale ending:
When the Allies exploded the Eagle’s Nest Fortress in 1945, hundreds of boxes of top champagne were found in Hitler’s villa - "1928 Salon Champagne". Hitler himself didn't drink any of these wines.
, and Churchill met the owner of the famous Champagne artist Pol Roger in the late World War II. After leaving office, Churchill would receive a box of vintage champagne from Baolujue every year on his birthday.
Champagne named after Churchill
After the war, Churchill became a world-class idol. He wrote many books and received large royalties, but it was still not enough to pay for his alcohol expenses. In his later years, a rich friend helped him pay all the alcohol bills.
After Churchill's death, Bao Lu Jue named his top champagne "Pol Roger Cuvée Sir Winston Churchill" to commemorate the descendants of the Goddess of Baccarat.
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