Neville Chamberlain is one of history's losers. Had Hitler kept his word - given in the 1938 Munich Agreement - the UK's then-Prime Minister would have delivered peace to his country. But Hitler's duplicity resulted in Chamberlain being seen - even to this day - as a naïve fool. This film adaptation of Robert Harris' novel may cause some re-evaluation of that opinion, as it gives Chamberlain a voice with which to express the reasons for his great desire for peace, as well as to admit war is inevitable - appeasing Hitler will at least give the country a chance to build up its forces in preparation for the delayed conflict.
The 2021 London Film Festival described the film as a 'thriller', but I think 'political drama' would have been more accurate. There are thriller elements - principally the efforts of young German diplomat Paul (Jannis Niewöhner) to smuggle a document to his fellow former Oxford University student Hugh (George MacKay), now Private Secretary to Chamberlain - but the majority of the film is political to-ing and fro-ing, as well as a couple of flashbacks to Paul and Hugh's not-so-distant youth with fellow student Lenya (Liv Lisa Fries - looking so similar to Jessica Brown Findlay in the role of Hugh's discontented wife that for a while I confused the two).
It is a sumptuous production: as well as the plot, the viewer can enjoy the late-1930s' clothes and set dressing! (At least, such things can be admired if you can ignore the annoying hand-held camera - entirely unnecessary for a production such as this.) As for the acting, it is uniformly good: many of the actors - British as well as German - are required to deliver lines in languages not their mother tongue and do so convincingly. The actor playing Hitler (I regret I do not know his name) especially deserves credit for adding a little more depth to a role so easy to play as a cartoon villain; and I am sure, come awards season, that Jeremy Irons, as Chamberlain, will be nominated for many statuettes.
The 2021 London Film Festival described the film as a 'thriller', but I think 'political drama' would have been more accurate. There are thriller elements - principally the efforts of young German diplomat Paul (Jannis Niewöhner) to smuggle a document to his fellow former Oxford University student Hugh (George MacKay), now Private Secretary to Chamberlain - but the majority of the film is political to-ing and fro-ing, as well as a couple of flashbacks to Paul and Hugh's not-so-distant youth with fellow student Lenya (Liv Lisa Fries - looking so similar to Jessica Brown Findlay in the role of Hugh's discontented wife that for a while I confused the two).
It is a sumptuous production: as well as the plot, the viewer can enjoy the late-1930s' clothes and set dressing! (At least, such things can be admired if you can ignore the annoying hand-held camera - entirely unnecessary for a production such as this.) As for the acting, it is uniformly good: many of the actors - British as well as German - are required to deliver lines in languages not their mother tongue and do so convincingly. The actor playing Hitler (I regret I do not know his name) especially deserves credit for adding a little more depth to a role so easy to play as a cartoon villain; and I am sure, come awards season, that Jeremy Irons, as Chamberlain, will be nominated for many statuettes.