‘Scent of a Woman’, ‘Blade Runner’ and more

Gary Oldman’s portrayal of Winston Churchill in the darkest weeks of the Second World War culminates in a speech that captures the impossible weight of refusing to negotiate with a force that has already consumed most of Europe. Oldman disappears so completely into Churchill that the speech feels less like a performance and more like a historical document brought to vivid, thundering life, delivering the iconic words “we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills. We shall never surrender.” It is a masterclass in how completely an actor can serve a moment when the writing, the direction, and the performance are all operating at the same extraordinary level.