CHURCHILL, the film

was a rather dull day, almost melancholy , and one needed distractions in order to prevent the mind from dwelling on the morose.
As it turns out this film, Churchill, was not a good choice to accomplish that task, for it deals with the dilemmas and dread that Churchill faces as he contemplates D Day, the Normandy landing in all its possible consequences. This must be a first of sorts for me , for i saw a film that deals with the subject of war (WW II) without showing any fighting at all, just the trauma , the dilemma, the dread involved in decision making, a decision that will send 20000 men to war, a focused invasion of france, meant to liberate it from the Germans, and achieve a decisive victory. The invasion at Normandy was a success and was the beginning of the end of the war , with the Germans in retreat thereafter, this we know now in hindsight. the movie however shows us a Churchill, tormented with the thought of failure, riddled with the guilt of Gallipoli (From WW I), unwilling to send innocent young men to their deaths, battling with the thought of a similar debacle, very troubled.
in many ways he is a man living in the past, fighting the American Generals, disagreeing with the plan, unwilling to be cast aside in the process of decision making.
Critics have pointed out the historical inaccuracy  of that disagreement, as also the inaccuracies in the portrayal of his domestic relationship, with his wife and his employees, the screenplay plays the disagreements up, perhaps in order to dramatise Churchill's psychic state.
this must happen to most generals and kings and warlords, they must be, at some point in their lives, haunted by the souls of those they send to death.
the actors are brilliant, Brain Cox tears into the role, and honestly it was for him that i chose to watch the film,  and Miranda Richardson as his wife makes her character come alive.
it is a rather sympathetic portrayal, subtly British, the great leader, torn apart with the pain of the common people he leads, empathetic of their concerns, wishing to prevent death and bloodshed, yet courageous enough to contemplate joining the troops at the front.
That said, its difficult to reconcile this image with that of a man who quite cynically and deliberately, in full knowledge, made the decision to withdraw food and grain bound for Bengal and the Eastern parts of India, in order to prevent it falling into the hands of the advancing Japanese army at about the same time as the decision for Normandy was being made. Creating a "Scorched Earth" scenario for the Japanese meant the creation of a Famine in Bengal that was unprecedented in scale and resulted in the death of a million Indian citizens. the Bengal famine was a catastrophe , a tragedy of horrendous proportions, created by that decision alone that resulted in the unavailability of food, condemning hundreds of thousands of Indians to slow starvation. Perhaps not equal enough with the Europeans at stake on the Western Front? a film that certainly makes one think, regardless of perspective.
sympathy for Mr Churchill will be hard to come by in Indian parts.
Vinny
19/11/18