Operation Mincemeat is a resounding success

Posted on 15th September 2022

Ten years ago I read a fascinating book by Ben Macintyre, outlining an extraordinary scheme to trick  Nazi Germany into thinking the allies planned to invade Greece and Sardinia, rather than their actual target, Sicily. It just goes to show how long it takes for an idea to be picked up and turned into a movie. If you’re unfamiliar with the plan, then go see the film and marvel at the cunning portrayed.

Screenwriter Michelle Ashford has adapted the nonfiction bestseller with a cool efficiency, and while he has taken some liberties to flesh out the narrative, the important facts are all present and correct in all their truth-is-stranger-then-fiction detail. Colin Firth and Matthew Macfadyen play the leads in this entangled tale, but pick a British actor you think might be in it and you’ll be right. Just about anyone of note has a role to play, not least Johnny Flynn (the bloke who sings the title song for the Detectorists) as Ian Fleming – yes the Ian Fleming, who really was involved. You literally couldn’t make it up.

With an emphasis on domestic morale, strategic ingenuity and political shenanigans it’s a country mile from the battlefield action of All Quiet on the Western Front or Saving Private Ryan. In that sense, Operation Mincemeat is a genuinely British film, steeped in quiet stoicism and determined endeavour. In these difficult times, it’s a fitting reminder of men and woman who went about doing the right thing with a solemnity and seriousness of purpose, often at great personal cost, without even the comfort or hope of acknowledgement.