Assessment: The remarkable story of Operation Kimas, the secret plan of World War II to deceive the Germans that the allied invading forces would land in Greece and not in Sicily, has been told on the big screen in the 1956 film The Man Who Did Not it never was. But at the time, not all the details of an emergency interception were known, one that is said to have changed the course of the war. For example, official secrecy still surrounded the true identity of a corpse dressed in a navy uniform and allowed to be washed off the coast of neutral Spain, carrying forged papers which British intelligence chiefs hoped would fall into German hands. As they duly did. Johnny Flynn, Colin Firth and Matthew Macfadyen are featured in the new Operation Mincemeat movie However, we now know that the body belonged to Glyndwr Michael, a Welshman with mental health problems living in London, who died after eating rotten food with rat poison. John Madden’s new film, inspired by Ben Macintyre’s bestseller, dramatizes an astonishing sequence of events, starting with three intelligence officers, Ewen Montagu (Colin Firth), Charles Cholmondeley (Matthew Macfadyen) and a certain lieutenant. Ian Fleming. (Johnny Flynn), they are preparing their plan to deceive Hitler. From the moment an age-appropriate corpse was found and given a new identity – no longer a Welsh bum but Major William Martin, a heroic Royal Marine officer – Montagu and his team, which also includes the formidable Hester Leggett (Penelope Wilton) and MI5 secretary Jean Leslie (Kelly Macdonald) begin the meticulous process of giving him a story, including a favorite, Pamela. They know that the Germans will check the credentials of the deceased. Every detail must be watertight. The savage head of Naval Intelligence, Admiral Godfrey (Jason Isaacs), thinks the plan is stupid. But Winston Churchill (Simon Russell Bill, reasonably avoiding a forgery) is willing to do anything that might prevent the Nazis from predicting a landing in Sicily in 1943. If they are ready and waiting, she grumbles ominously, then “history itself will prevent its eyes from being slaughtered.” Simon Russell Beale as Winston Churchill and Jason Isaacs as Admiral Godfrey in Operation Mincemeat And so the plan unfolds, in consultation with the staff of the British consulate in Spain, and with the hope that the autopsy there will not reveal how “Bill Martin” actually died. In addition, the deception depends on the fact that the Germans believe that the British desperately want to get the papers back, invisible. A wonderful little trick, placing a tiny lash on one of Bill’s letters, helps determine if it has been read. The “fate of the free world” hangs over this intricate bluff and counter-bluff game. Madden, the director, has an impressive form in portraying a certain kind of English. His works include The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2011). He is also a master of period drama, with Mrs. Brown (1997), Shakespeare in love (1998) and Captain Corelli’s Mandolin (2001). This mostly absorbent film represents another steady tick in a brilliant career, even though Michelle Ashford’s screenplay occasionally falls into the trap of characters who enlighten audiences rather than each other. The landings in Sicily are “the biggest amphibious attack the war has ever seen,” says one sailor to another, who, I think we can safely assume, already knows. Lorne Macfadyen, Paul Ritter, Matthew Macfadyen and Colin Firth portrayed at Mincemeat I was not at all convinced by an unnecessary subplot, designed to spark tension between Montagu and Cholmondeley, who are both in love with Leslie (a rather harsh Macdonald interpretation) in a terribly repressed way in the 1940s. See also the Brief Encounter by David Lean (1945). However, there are so many fascinating details in Operation Mincemeat that none of them really matter. As dramatic as permission has been taken, one indisputable fact remains: That this is an astonishingly true story. You will notice, if you have read the excellent Macintyre book, that some of the strangest details have even been tempered to make them more reliable. Those who knew the true Cholmondeley, who “looked at the world through thick pebbles, behind a remarkable six-inch mustache and wax in beautiful places”, would not necessarily recognize him in the perfectly tasty Macfadyen, who nevertheless does what he can for to be presented as unlucky and in love. There is another luxury component that this film shares with The Man Who Never Was: The corpse needed to be transported from London to Scotland, where it was put on a submarine bound for Spain, in a very short time. To do this, they used a leading British racing guide, St John Horsfall (Mark Bonnar), to get there. When Flynn, played by Ian Fleming and used sporadically as a narrator, later came to create James Bond, more than anyone should have known that truth is at least twice as strange as fiction. Mincemeat opens across the UK on Friday
