THE GATHERING STORM (2002) *** There's no other way to put it: Albert Finney and Vanessa Redgrave are perfect as Winston and Clemmie Churchill. Political typecasting it ain't, mainly, spiritual typecasting it may be. Finney is nearly unrecognizeable as himself but blusters on about fate, that "radical" Gandhi, drinks, ponds and Nazis in a lurching cadence that almost appears to come more naturally to him than it did to the bulldog himself. As much as anything it's a tale of a man perfect for a time, as much as anything else it's a stridently unromantic love story that pulls strings soap stars have never heard of. Strange how Winston appears to have such a sense of fate in the first sense, and no conscious sense at all in the latter. What appears to be relentless self-promotion at the expense of others is only chasing a star while trying to outrun the black dog from the inside; bit players will never understand why they don't have a leading role but are certain to blame those who do just as soon as lines are directed to anyone else. Create your own central part in a drama, dammit! They're allowed to overlap. Lena Headey also shines as a functionary's wife unwilling to be moved around by bigger functionaries. Let's see...personal fiscal irresponsibility, refusal to follow party directives, illegal information gathering at the expense of the government, lots of drinks, dictates speeches from a bath tub, unquestionable lack of respect for external authority, sleeps with Redgrave...Churchill is a conservative icon you say?