Churchill's Secret

The cast for this film was amazing. It's hard to have a declared spoiler as we generally know how the story ends from the history books. The movie allows a little glimpse into the internal family conflicts of the most famous Prime Minister in British history. I'll say that not enough explanation is given regarding concerns for Eden, who is barely visible in the film though he was arguably a major rival for the PM and trying to trip up the aging Churchill to make a name for himself. There's another movie that treats this aspect of Churchill's life more thoroughly. This film is more homey.

If you rangefinder 8,you either are not British or do not know your History,or both!

A look at the later life of one of Britain's most famous Prime Ministers, Winston Churchill, running the country at 78, having recently had a stroke, is taken home by wife Clemmie to have absolute peace away from Cabinet. Desperately ill, he is Nursed by the wonderfully capable Nurse Millie Appleyard.

I have to say I am at a loss to read such poor reviews for Churchill's Secret, I too waited with huge anticipation for this drama, and I have to say I wasn't disappointed. A lavish production, a great story seldom told, I thought this was rather captivating. The part where Clemmie tells Millie about the death of the child was heartbreaking, but incredibly well acted.

What a phenomenal combination Michael Gambon and Lindsay Duncan are, two of my all time favourites, each showcasing their true majesty. Gambon added a gravitas, a stubbornness, and somehow a fragility into Churchill, when he is on screen, it's simple, you watch him. Lindsay Dunca, too, just awesome as his concerned, but very British wife, Clementine. Add the likes of Romola Garai, Bill Paterson and Tara Fitzgerald, and there was only really going to be one outcome.

Jonathan Smith's novel, brought beautifully to life by Stewart Harcourt and co. Worth the wait, and well worth seeing. It was moving, with a slight dash of humour, interesting, a brilliant piece of drama.

9/10

The movie has some pretty good picture and landscapes and beautiful shots, actors all are stunning , romola wasnt at her best but was good, churchill himself , michel gambon has played so profissionaly and well, the mother of the family , linsay duncan was awesome and really acted well , like a strong mother and wife trying to hold the family and keep everyone calm and not to show any signs of weakness to upset or worry her dear ones, as i said in the title Matthew Macfadyen really killed it with a 10-15 min performance, churchil daughters i didnt get them , nor by acting nor the story speaking of story , well, didnt got me , i watched it for the actors , and even after finishing the movie , story never interested me.

Michael Gambon as Winston and Lindsay Duncan as Clementine Churchill lead a good cast in a good recreation of the 50s and the hidden crisis that the United Kingdom had at the time. If you can imagine a situation where Barack Obama suffered a stroke and Joe Biden was also incapacitated with bad jaundice then you have some idea of what Great Britain was going through. And the media stayed silent.

After leading the Conservative Party to victory in 1951 Churchill two years later sustains a serious stroke and it's touch and go. Anthony Eden as Foreign Secretary was considered the heir apparent, in fact he had even expected to lead the party in 1951, but patiently put his ambitions on a backburner.

Alex Jennings plays an increasingly impatient Anthony Eden who felt that Churchill had just stayed on and Eden was ambitious to have his turn at the top of the greasy pole. What you're seeing here concerning them is true enough. What is not shown is that when the torch passed Eden got himself and the country in a royal mess over the Suez Canal and his government barely lasted two years.

My favorite is Michael Macfayden as Randolph Churchill. Winston's only son was the belligerent drunken lout you see here. But like his three surviving sisters could never come out from so great a shadow. Oddly enough Winston's relationship with his father Randolph was somewhat the same.

The only equivalents I can see in our history was when Grover Cleveland had that cancer operation one of the very first performed in his second term and no one knew until 20 years later. Also Churchill's counterpart FDR spent an entire month during World War II almost in seclusion at Bernard Baruch's estate in South Carolina and the public never knew at the time. Roosevelt was in almost terminal exhaustion from war leadership and he would die within two years of that.

Churchill's Secret is good history for the viewer.