I just finished watching “Into The Storm” and could not be more appalled by what I saw. Firstly, on merely technical matters the film is terribly edited as it continuously jumps between the events of the Second World War and the days before Churchill’s loss in the 1945 election for Prime Minister just after the war ends, while giving very little historical context behind the events that it depicts. Secondly, it is poorly acted as Churchill is portrayed as a crotchety, old, pig-headed, bullying, war-monger who enjoyed war and did not want it to end, cared little for the men under his charge, did not heed the advice of his military advisors and fellow MPS, and treated his servants and his family particularly his wife, with disdain. (Not to mention that the acting itself by all involved, feels inauthentic, and not believable, as if the actors are playing caricatures, rather then real people.) Thirdly, the filmmakers even go so far as to imply that Churchill was as bad as Hitler in his conduct of the war by filming a scene in the House of Commons where a Labour MP makes that assertion, and by showing Churchill reacting indifferently to the bombings of German towns, sanctioning the killing of German civilians, and presents the bombing of Dresden as being on the same scale as all of the horrors that the Nazis perpetrated on the world.( Mind you, I’m aware that the bombing of Dresden was a reprehensible act, but it does not even come close to the horrors wrought on the world by Nazi Germany.) Fourthly, it implies that Josef Stalin,-one of the most vile men in history- had more good sense when it came to fighting the war then Churchill when they have discussions about the it during the Teheran and Yalta Conferences. Fifthly, it diminishes his speeches by showing him giving them in a limited context by either simply rehearsing them or cutting off memorable sections for example his line about “man’s finest hour.” Finally, and maybe most importantly, there is nothing admirable or agreeable about Churchill as none of his purported warmth, humor, decency, astounding eloquence or charisma are even touched on. In short, he is not seen as the great man that with the help of others saved the world from one of the most evil regimes ever loosed upon it that threatened its very existence.

Shame on the people who made this! I hope that any money they made from it is burned and I cannot believe it received Emmy Awards!

So, therefore I say DO NOT waste your money by purchasing this historically inaccurate, badly put together film that desecrates the legacy of one of the indisputably incredible figures of the Twentieth Century.

If you long to see accurate representations of Churchill and World War II, see: “The Gathering Storm,” ” Then There Were Giants,” “The Winds of War,” and “War and Remembrance,” they do it justice.

I am at a loss to understand how after releasing such an extraordinary film as “The Gathering Storm” in 2002, HBO-A network which often releases excellent movies and specials- could follow it up with this vile piece of filth.

I watched this on background while finishing up my new book and on balance it is certainly most satisfying and I would recommend it to anyone along with Ike – Countdown to D-Day.

As an admirer of the half of Churchill that was both articulate and a statesman (as opposed to the duplitous half that betrayed every promise made to the Arabs, see A Peace to End All Peace: The Fall of the Ottoman Empire and the Creation of the Modern Middle East and Web of Deceit: The History of Western Complicity in Iraq, from Churchill to Kennedy to George W. Bush), I found the movie adequate but not as inspiring as it could have been.

His great speeches on tape are delivered better on tape than in the movie (I do not recommend the books of his speeches, the publishers failed to put them in the original poetic form for proper appreciation and reading).

The movie misses a huge opportunity, when Churchill is so very rude to his man-servant, they substituted the wife asking him to stop, boring, to the actual exchange in which the man-servant stands up to Churchill, saying he is very rude, and Churchill’s answering, “yes, but I am a great man,” to which the man servant has an accepting acknowledgement.

The movie also fails to capture the actual nature of the bunker war rooms, something I visit each time I visit London, and they went cheap on Dunkirk, which really was one of England’s finest hours. Had they gone to the trouble of filming Dunkirk, admittedly a great expense, this film would have been a five, I get goose-bumps just thinking about the flotilla of small craft managing to bring back the entire British Army.

My favorite book on Churchill is THE LAST LION: 2 VOLUME BOXED SET by William Manchester, also available individually.

For serious documentaries about lessons of war and the underlying malfeasance of war, see:

The Fog of War – Eleven Lessons from the life of Robert S. McNamara

Why We Fight

The Good Soldier DVD – Maysles Brothers Award Winning Documentary by Lexy Lovell + Michael Uys

This excellent companion feature to THE GATHERING STORM follows the head-strong Winston Churchill as he guides his nation to victory in World War II.

Brendan Gleeson delivers an uncanny performance as the British Prime Minister, one of the greatest men of the 20th Century. Janet McTeer is also magnificent as his wife, as is Len Cariou as FDR. Director Thaddeus O’Sullivan does a fine job of recreating the time an place.

Extras: audio commentary from producer Frank Doelger and writer Hugh Whitemore, and a featurette.

© Michael B. Druxman