The Gathering Storm (2002)

• Year: 2002
• Released: 27 Apr 2002
• Country: United Kingdom, United States
• Adwords: Won 3 Primetime Emmys. 21 wins & 31 nominations total
• IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0314097/
• Rotten Tomatoes: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_gathering_storm
• Available in: 720p, 1080p,
• Language: English
• MPA Rating: TV-MA
• Genre: Biography, Drama, History
• Runtime: 96 min
• Writer: Larry Ramin, Hugh Whitemore
• Director: Richard Loncraine
• Cast: Albert Finney, Vanessa Redgrave, Jim Broadbent
• Keywords: biography, world war ii, british history, winston churchill, british prime minister,

7.4/10

The Gathering Storm Storyline

In the 1930s, Sir Winston Churchill (Albert Finney) was out of government, sitting as a backbench Member of Parliament. His was a lonely voice warning about German rearmament and the coming of a second major war on the continent. He lost a great deal of money in the Wall Street crash and now writes a biography of his ancestor the Duke of Marlborough, a newspaper column, and it’s his only means of support. He has a close-knit group of supporters, not the least of whom is his wife Clementine (Vanessa Redgrave), who he loves very dearly. As he continues to press his concerns about Hitler, he is cast as a warmonger and frequently shouted down in Parliament by members on both sides of the aisle. With reliable information from a Foreign Office civil servant who feels the government is not accurately reporting on rearmament, he provides accurate figures to Parliament and the tide begins to turn. With the on-set of World War II in September 1939, Churchill returns to government as the First Lord of Admiralty.

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The Gathering Storm Movie Reviews

Winston is back. In faxt, he never left.

This truly is a superb biography of probably the greatest prime minister that England has ever known. Albert Finney gives one of his best performances out of many as Churchill, becoming him in every way, and not afraid to literally show us Winston in the buff. With the beautiful Vanessa Redgrave as his wife, you really get a glimpse into their marriage that shows the love, honesty, arguments and even tenderness, talking to scene near the conclusion where the Gruffs any breaks down and tells her how he never thought he would receive love like what he gets from her. You rarely get to see a man of such power and commanding presence be so brutally honest about his emotions. Vanessa’s radiant smile shows a woman of such compassion and tenderness and integrity that you wish she did not disappear for a good quarter of the film.

The story focuses on Churchill’s years as head of the conservative party, dealing with rising conflict in the early years of Hitler’s Germany. He is not yet prime minister, but obviously perhaps the most respected member of Parliament, and as he fights the anti semitic views of many of his colleagues, he finds himself being opposed as Britain struggles to deal with a world crisis. Churchill gets to show how he deals with his devoted staff, fully dedicated to his idealism and even respected colleagues, as they turn against his methodology of how to deal with the greatest villain of the 20th Century.

So this isn’t really a war story. It is a pre-war story and you see the psychological conflicts rising rather than a battle of the fields. This is a film filled with humor yet real emotional struggles, as Hitler, while not seen, is felt throughout as the giant snake taking over Europe with his intentions of furthering hate and destruction. A superb supporting cast includes such familiar faces as Derek Jacobi, Tom Wilkinson, Hugh Bonneville and Jim Broadbent, and even with the people who are opposed to Churchill’s methods you can find some sort of sympathy with although a few are definitely anti-semitic in their feelings and obviously have an agenda which would ultimately support the Nazis. But these characters are not presented in black-and-white terms, featuring many Greys that ultimately would not benefit world peace. This definitely belongs on a list of modern classics dealing with World War II which does erupt at the end, and for both Churchill and Albert Finney, this ends up on a triumphant note which wood show triumph in the world once again against evil even though it had to follow a long string of atrocities.

Churchill – The Exile Years

Albert Finney and Vanessa Redgrave star in his HBO movie which takes its title from the first volume of Winston Churchill’s World War II memoirs, The Gathering Storm. These were the years of Churchill’s exile from power when he was on the back benches of Parliament. He would be out of office from the time Stanley Baldwin’s Tory government lost to the Labour Party of Ramsay MacDonald in 1929 until 1940. Finney plays Churchill and his wife Clementine is essayed well by Redgrave.

Churchill made a severe miscalculation twice during the Thirties. First he resigned the shadow cabinet of the Tories when Baldwin who is played here by Derek Jacobi over Indian independence. Secondly he also tried a power play against Baldwin by offering to form a King’s Party in support of Edward VIII during the abdication crisis. Neither move guaranteed him a willing audience when he started to make speeches warning against the rearmament and aggressive intent of Nazi Germany. Both those moves are passed over lightly if mentioned at all.

For this and the fact that the film takes Churchill’s point of view 100% the plot of this is heavy handed in his favor and recent scholarship has given Stanley Baldwin a better grade during his term in office and especially over the rearmament issue. Like we in the USA the UK was not in a mood to hear Cassandra like warnings about Germany. Public opinion had to come around and Churchill waited on it more than made it in my humble opinion.

It also goes into the private life of Winnie and Clemmie and the years in exile for a man as energetic and as egotistical as Churchill freely admitted he was were a great strain on the marriage. That’s where Ms. Redgrave comes in. She’s one frustrated woman not knowing how to channel the volcanic energy that was her husband. We see him painting and writing, particularly his acclaimed life of his ancestor The Duke Of Marlborough. There’s a fine Masterpiece Theater series on that Churchill that starred John Neville and Susan Hampshire that I also recommend based on Churchill’s biography.

A minor player here is Linus Roache better known as ADA Mike Cutter on Law And Order. He plays Ralph Wigram who was not the only source of information for Churchill. But at cost to his career and health with the pressures involved, he smuggled out a lot of secret information the Foreign Office was keeping from the British public as Hitler’s moves and intentions.

Although the book The Gathering Storm is no longer accepted as THE final word on the period, the film The Gathering Storm is a fine insight into Winston Churchill in his exile years.

great actors and interesting history

It’s 1934. Winston Churchill (Albert Finney) is in Chartwell working on a biography of his ancestor Duke of Marlborough. He’s a backbencher warning against German rearmament. He despises the decline of the empire but only has a limited group of supporters. He becomes isolated. His wife Clementine (Vanessa Redgrave) discovers that he has suffered great losses and they are struggling financially. Meanwhile, government official Ralph Wigram (Linus Roache) is concerned about Hitler’s laws especially with his beloved mentally challenged child. Wigram feels ignored by 10 Downing Street and starts illegally leaking to Churchill.

Albert Finney is simply amazing but he’s not alone. He’s surrounded by some of the best in Britain including the great Vanessa Redgrave. The talent is impeccable. The production looks great for a TV movie. It’s compelling history and an interesting behind-the-headlines espionage thriller.