Operation Mincemeat

As bonkers ideas go the one that was codenamed Operation Mincemeat must be going to towards the top of the list. Avoiding any details of the operation, other than to say it was in 1943 and about duping the Nazis. The film also gives some insight into thinking and attitudes at that very dangerous and politically sensitive period of history.

We have intelligence officers Ewen Montagu (Colin Firth) and Charles Cholmondeley (Matthew Macfadyen) executing an audacious plan that will divert Nazis resources, clearing the way for the Allies to carry out a major military operation. The plan is discussed at length amongst themselves batted about the War Offices and generally ridiculed until finally approved.

Once given the go ahead, the planning is meticulously recounted down to the finest detail. Blended with this are the military and political machinations that continued even after the preparations were being carried out, not to mention the personal issues of the protagonists as they get acquainted.

There are other issues to that adds spice to the command structure with Admiral Godfrey (Jeremy Isaacs having concerns about Ewen Montagu’s brother Ivor (Mark Gatiss), a known left-wing sympathiser.

The arrival of Jean Leslie (Kelly Macdonald) sets pulses going, complicating the lives and working relationship of Ewen Montagu and Cholmondeley. There’s also Churchill played Simon Russell Beale who is suitably Churchillian. The oasis of calm is Hester Legget (Penelope Wilton) who knows the Montagus well and is well respected allowing her a freedom of expression that may not have been tolerated from others.

This could all be very dry, and there is a lot of talking, but there is quite a lot humour woven in with Cholmondeley’s running comment about the number of officers writing books. There are also some observations about the social life at that time, that for a certain section of society things seemed to be getting back to some semblance of normality.

It is also very, very male and at times very shouty which could have descended into Stephen Fry/General Melchett caricature however credit to director John Madden and the actors for keeping a lid on it but also having Macdonald and Wilton as assertive characters who had a say and key roles in the operation.

Undoubtably Madden and writer Michelle Ashford (based on Ben Macintyre’s non-fiction book) have taken some dramatic licence here and there, which I’m quite happy to leave for experts and scholars to discuss.

Looking at it from an entertainment perspective, there is very little to fault it. It is a beautifully constructed film with exquisite period detail and performances that equally convey the tensions of the operation and the effects on them personally.