Rating: 
Summary: Not so much a story as a portrait of Churchill
Review: Albert Finney does a remarkable thing starring in this film as Winston Churchill. With no more than the proper wardrobe and a Romeo and Juliet cigar, he transforms himself into everyone's vision of the legendary stateman. He well deserved the Emmy for best performance, and may well have won the Oscar had this been a theatrical release. The entire cast is top-notch: I especially liked seeing Sir Derek Jacobi as Baldwin, and Vanessa Redgrave is a pleasure as usual. In addition, the cinematography is fantastic - the production values rival any Hollywood theatrical release. HBO is rightfully becoming the leader in drama.The plot loosely follows the details of Churchill's political life (and that of Britain's) in the '30's. I especially liked the portrayal early in the film of Churchill defending the crackdown on Gandhi and against Indian independence. At that time, Churchill was a solution in search of a problem, and he basically lashed out at anything that altered the status quo or affected the Empire. But when Hitler came to power, and Germany started re-arming, Churchill came to life. He was the most vocal of Britain's appeasement critics and started arming himself for the battle he knew was coming. This was Churchill at his best - a lone voice crying in the wilderness, but with a message that wouldn't go away and one that more and more people started listening to. The film ends with the declaration of war in September '39 and Churchill's appointment to cabinet (as First Lord of the Admiralty). However, the plot is incidental. This film is mostly a portrait of Churchill the man. We see him ranting in the House of Commons, lambasting his staff, tyranising his family, and coercing staff at the foreign office into giving him access to restricted material. This is the Churchill everyone knows, and it's nothing new. What this film adds is Churchill barking (literally - like a dog) at him wife, playing with his youngest daughter, and absentmindedly forgetting to wear clothes in the presence of his secretaries. All of these character traits are well documented in his biographies, but are rarely seen on screen, and it's this fine performance of all aspects of Churchill that makes the film so worthwhile. The film is prone to sentimentality. It is prone to gloss over some events (like Chamberlain becoming PM). However, I was pleasantly surprised by the details it does include - the average North American TV viewer may not follow every reference in the film, but it never drags down in such details and they never detract from the main purpose of the piece - it's portrayal of Churchill, the man.
Rating: 
Summary: The Right Man in the Right Place at the Right Time.
Review: Churchill did not create the circumstances that surrounded Europe and Great Britain in the first half of the twentieth century, but he did recognize the dangers that existed and sought to protect the England that he loved from them. In Gathering Storm, Churchill is portayed magnificently by a portly Albert Finney as the egomaniacal, multi-talented genius that he truly was. The movie succeeds in providing telling glimpses into Churchill's private life with his wife Clementine (Vanessa Redgrave), his children, his household staff and friends as well as into his public dealings and persona. I was left wishing for the movie to continue from the point at which it concludes its story.
Winston Churchill was not a man of his times, he was a man FOR his times.
Rating:
Summary: ENGROSSING & HUMANE BIOPIC OF A LARGER-THAN-LIFE POLITICIAN
Review: Despite ending eight months prior to the natural climax of Churchill's prime ministership, Gathering Storm makes for an engrossing and informative look at the years leading up to his key role in WWII.
Not merely a commentary of the Churchill you typically know of, mind you, but a warts-and-all portrait of his personal life including his loving but sometimes strained marriage, his financial troubles, alcoholism, ennui, amateur painting, and most interestingly, his habit of absent-mindedly losing himself in rehearsing speeches while in the bathtub.
Of course we do get a good perspective of his political trajectory as well, strewn with ramblings on Germany and India. While he seemed a bit ahead of the curve on Germany, he was a tad out of depth on India (e.g., "I wish to save Indians from Mr. Gandhi").
The narrative seems to be deliberately relaxed, perhaps in order to be adequately informative in nature, but its thoughtfulness more than makes up for it. A very provocative undercurrent being that grudges are borne at national levels as well.
People who're not keen on the time bracket of possibly the most destructive war in the history may find all of it a bit tedious, but for diehard fans of diplomacy or wars this is a truly gripping film.
Rating:
Summary: wonderful
Review: I am not really a biography buff, but I started watching this movie and couldn't stop. I even cried a couple of times. The cast, settings, and scenery are wonderful. Albert Finney looks and acts and sounds amazingly like Winston Churchill. I do wish it had gone on for several more hours, since it stops right at a crucial point.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful production...frustrating script
Review: I watched this on the heels of "Churchill: The Wilderness Years" (TWY), so most of my review should be seen in that context.
Finney is superb as is the rest of the cast, and the production is, as expected, leaps and bounds above the made-for-BBC "TWY."
My only gripe is with the choices made in the script. A surprising amount of time is dedicated to the tragic side story of Ralph Wigram that not nearly enough time is paid to the other historical figures and events. I wish the film had been at least 2 hours, perhaps then the full story could have been fleshed out a bit more.
As it stands, Wintson shares the stage with Wigram in a rather brief sketch. While tragic and perhaps a compelling story, Wigram was a marginal figure at best if you read the biographies.
Would that these actors and production could have been brought to "TWY."
I do appreciate the earthiness with which Churchill is presented. I found the nudity and profanity to be very much "in character" for him. I also felt this production did a better job of presenting exactly how much Winston had been marginalized during the Baldwin government, but again it is just hinted at -- not enough time is given.
Winnie is also more clearly humanized with more emotion, fear, insecurity and whimsy than in "TWY," including his painting, so in that regard this production colourizes, as it were, the drabber portraits.
A great addition to the Churchill opus, but in the end is more supplemental than comprehensive.
Rating:
Summary: Showing a different side of Big Winnie
Review: If you're like me, you remember Winston Churchill for his glory days: bellowing brilliant patriotic speeches that could revive flagging British spirit even in the darkest days of the war. This movie show a much different side of Winston.
Although I knew that Winston smoked and drank a tad to excess (and his detractors will always bring this up, as though this contradicted his brilliance as a prime minister) what I didn't know was how devoted he was to his wife. Though I knew how much he loved his country, I didn't know about how much ridicule and shame he was subject to in the early days of Germany's rise, when he and he alone in the British Government knew of the gathering storm that was the German war machine. This superbly acted TV movie showed me many things I did not know about the great man, and I heartily reccomend giving "The Gathering Storm" a look if it's on TV or you feel like purchasing it. 8/10
Rating:
Summary: a personal portrait
Review: It's interesting -- and understandable -- that the other customer reviewers focus at times on how great Churchill was. This movie, although it shows Churchill as a great man and conscious of that greatness, is about Churchill as a human being. We see how much his wife meant to him, and his animals, and his sense of place and animals and painting. The movie is set before the war, while England slept (to borrow a phrase from JFK), when Churchill was trying to sound the alarm about the growing threat from a rearming Germany. It was fascinating, in that sense, to watch this movie as we await al Qaeda's next horrific move. Leading up to World War II and Churchill's return to power, the movie's structure is a bit off-putting, in that the coming of war becomes a personal triumph, in dramatic terms, for Churchill. But then we watch with the full knowledge the Churchill's role in the war was one of the great personal and historic triumphs. Finney is a great Churchill impersonator and calibrates his performance well, capturing the man's crankiness and depression and not just making him a show-off orator. The rest of the cast is spot on and the interiors are rich and lovely. A good historical piece, personal dynamics piece and appealing Anglophile nostalgia piece.
Rating:
Summary: Catching the first zephyrs of war out of the doldrums
Review: It's part of the Churchill legend that, after having served in high government posts in the first third of the 20th century, Winston was a has-been by the mid-1930s, ridiculed and avoided by fellow members of Parliament - caught in the political doldrums. THE GATHERING STORM depicts the period from 1934 to 1939. It's no exaggeration to say that Churchill owes the resurgence of his political career to Adolph Hitler and the Third Reich. Albert Finney was an inspired choice in the title roll. We watch as Winston, despondent over his fall from influence, becomes the lone voice in the wilderness speaking out against the government's policy of appeasement of Nazi Germany. This is all the more remarkable because it was Churchill's own party, the Conservatives, which held power under Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin (Derek Jacobi), who, as pointedly put by Winston, was but an "epileptic corpse". However, this film does not slavishly idolize. We see Churchill for what he also was: inept at money handling, domineering, occasionally incredibly selfish, and perhaps too envious of the military accomplishments of his ancestor, the 1st Duke of Marlborough. And, as comic relief, the viewer is led to believe that Winston composed and rehearsed his greatest speeches in the loo, especially while in the bathtub. THE GATHERING STORM is also a tribute to Clementine Churchill (Vanessa Redgrave), who scores major points for staying married to a difficult man. In one instance, after twenty-some years of selfless devotion to her marriage and family, Clementine defies her husband's self-centeredness and goes off on a Pacific jolly to chase Komodo Dragons, a large lizard. You go, girl! This isn't a riveting drama by any means, but it's an extremely competent portrayal of the man and his times. For one already acquainted with Churchill's career, it offers nothing new. For one who knows nothing of Churchill or that period of Britain's history between the wars, it's perhaps a must-see. Much of it was filmed at Churchill's home of the time, Chartwell, now a National Trust property. The very best thing about Finney's portrayal is his voice. I could close my eyes and easily imagine that it was Winston himself speaking. However, this aspect of the production also leads to its greatest failing, which is that not enough of Churchill's great oratory was heard. As I watched the ending credits roll, I thought how they needed a voice-over of Winston's greatest speech - the one that even now brings chills to me (a non-Brit), and which includes: "Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves that if the British Empire and Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say, This was their finest hour."
Rating:
Summary: A CHURCHILLIAN LANDSCAPE
Review: Okay, so for my money Winston Churchill was the greatest character of the last century. Larger than life and who defied all and sundry when he thought he was right (which was practically always). Could this or any other movie live up to the memory of a legend. The Gathering Storm managed very well, thanks in no short measure to the amazing performance by Albert Finney who not only looked and sounded like the great man but also captured the Bulldog Defiance which served the British people and indeed the world so well during World War II. Vanessa Redgrave must also be acknowledged for her performance as the power behind the cigar. In fact every actor in this movie turns in a stunning performance, including Tom Wilkenson who has long been one of my favorite undiscovered actors (discovered now of course). I understand that a sequel is in the works and I hope this is true. Because this surely is only the first course and what should be a sumptious feast of history, acting, writing and dircetion. Just don't keep us waiting too long.
Rating:
Summary: Albert Finney is unbelievably believable
Review: Perfect casting, perfect atmospherics, a strong sense of living in those times, which is what I seek from historical movies -- yes "The Gathering Storm" has all of these. But what I really want to praise is Albert Finney as Churchill. First I was enthralled, watching him work, then I forgot I was watching an actor. Soon after seeing the movie I came across a picture of the real Churchill and had a momentary flash. Hey, that doesn't look like Churchill! Then I appreciated how completely Finney had inhabited the great man.
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