A taut Second World War drama, Operation Mincemeat is based on a real series of events that, at first glance, might seem fanciful.
'Operation Mincemeat'
Director: John Madden
Cast: Colin Firth, Matthew Macfayden, Kelly Macdonald and Penelope Wilton
Rating: 4/5
Back in 1943, the Allies undertook a jaw-dropping plan to defeat the Nazi forces, one that would prove be the turning point towards victory in Europe. That it relied on a barely credible ploy that many would shoot down before realising they had few other options just adds to the film’s remarkable, stranger-than-fiction quality.
When the film opens, British intelligence is scheming to invade Sicily, but the only way of achieving this is to fool German officials into believing that the Allies are planning on using an entirely different gateway into Europe — Greece and Sardinia. To do this, a plan is hatched that feels straight out of a wartime spy novel: a corpse will be requisitioned, dressed in British military uniform, equipped with falsified documents that hint at the Greek plot, and left in shallow waters off the coast of Spain.
Putting this Trojan horse into operation are Naval Intelligence officer Ewen Montagu (Colin Firth) and MI5’s Charles Cholmondeley (Matthew Macfadyen), a former RAF pilot. While Churchill (Simon Russell Beale) greenlights the plan in spite of its sheer lunacy, they aren’t exactly backed by enthusiastic support — notably, sceptical Admiral John Godfrey (Jason Isaacs), the head of British Naval Intelligence (despite, in reality, being someone who’d contemplated the idea years earlier).
Ensconced in a basement office in Whitehall, they undertake ‘Operation Mincemeat’, a name almost as daft as the plan itself. It almost sounds like a sketch from the Monty Python team, although director John Madden never lets its bizarre nature overshadow the film. He treats it just as the characters do — with sobriety. And so Montagu and Cholmondeley set about overseeing the minutia of their plan, as they create the fictitious Naval courier, Major William Martin, the dead man left to wash up on the Spanish shore.
One of the more questionable aspects of the scheme sees them commandeer the body of a recently deceased tramp, but the script by Michelle Ashford (based on the non-fiction bestseller by Ben Macintyre) ensures that this is not treated lightly. Fascinatingly, the film takes great delight in the level of detail the plan requires. Like the way an MI5 clerk (Trainspotting’s Kelly Macdonald) becomes Martin’s imagined lady friend, her photo being placed on his person. No stone is left unturned, even when the Spanish authorities initially fail to deliver the phoney information to the Germans, as expected.
While Montagu wrote a book about his adventures, The Man Who Never Was — which became a 1956 film, starring Clifton Webb and Gloria Grahame – Operation Mincemeat takes a slightly different tack. The narrator is Godfrey’s assistant — one Ian Fleming (Johnny Flynn). Some nine years before he’d publish his first James Bond novel, Casino Royale, Lt Cdr Fleming is the ideal choice to convey the story to viewers. While he’s seen composing at his typewriter, the joke is that just about everyone in MI5 is working on a spy novel in their spare time.
Madden, the British director still best known for his Oscar-friendly films Mrs Brown and Shakespeare in Love, is a fine choice to helm Operation Mincemeat. He’s a capable and assured director with experience in the genre — his 2010 film The Debt, starring Jessica Chastain and Helen Mirren explored a plot that saw Mossad agents taking down a Nazi war criminal. Here, he manages to conjure up reams of tension — an impressive feat for a film that is largely set in smoke-filled war rooms, with upper-class men staring at maps of Europe.
As Operation Mincemeat unfolds, it becomes as much a character study of the pivotal personnel as it does a Second World War thriller. Chief among them is Firth’s Montagu, who is first seen sending his Jewish wife Iris (Hattie Morahan) and their children to America, for fear the Germans may yet reach the UK. There is also a plotline — perhaps one too far, given everything else going on — involving the political allegiances of his brother Ivor (Mark Gatiss), and the compromising position it puts Firth’s character in.
What results is a very fine Second World War drama that unflinchingly details the ingenuity needed to win the war, the personal sacrifices that had to be made, and the amoral decisions that had to be navigated.
Led by splendid performances — particularly by Macfadyen, who is on a roll after his work in TV show Succession — it’s a gripping, old-fashioned adventure that’ll leave you astounded at the sheer nerve of it all.
Operation Mincemeat is out in UAE cinemas from May 5
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
The specs: 2018 Maserati GranTurismo/GranCabrio
Price, base Dh485,000 (GranTurismo) and Dh575,000 (GranCabrio)
Engine 4.7L V8
Transmission Six-speed automatic
Power 460hp @ 7,000rpm
Torque 520Nm @ 4,750rpm
Fuel economy, combined 14.3L (GranTurismo) and 14.5L (GranCabrio) / 100km
Global Fungi Facts
• Scientists estimate there could be as many as 3 million fungal species globally
• Only about 160,000 have been officially described leaving around 90% undiscovered
• Fungi account for roughly 90% of Earth's unknown biodiversity
• Forest fungi help tackle climate change, absorbing up to 36% of global fossil fuel emissions annually and storing around 5 billion tonnes of carbon in the planet's topsoil
SPECS
Nissan 370z Nismo
Engine: 3.7-litre V6
Transmission: seven-speed automatic
Power: 363hp
Torque: 560Nm
Price: Dh184,500
JUDAS AND THE BLACK MESSIAH
Directed by: Shaka King
Starring: Daniel Kaluuya, Lakeith Stanfield, Jesse Plemons
Four stars
Ferrari 12Cilindri specs
Engine: naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V12
Power: 819hp
Torque: 678Nm at 7,250rpm
Price: From Dh1,700,000
Available: Now
The specs: Rolls-Royce Cullinan
Price, base: Dh1 million (estimate)
Engine: 6.75-litre twin-turbo V12
Transmission: Eight-speed automatic
Power: 563hp @ 5,000rpm
Torque: 850Nm @ 1,600rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 15L / 100km
SPECS
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WOMAN AND CHILD
Director: Saeed Roustaee
Starring: Parinaz Izadyar, Payman Maadi
Rating: 4/5
if you go
The flights
Flydubai offers three daily direct flights to Sarajevo and, from June, a daily flight from Thessaloniki from Dubai. A return flight costs from Dhs1,905 including taxes.
The trip
The Travel Scientists are the organisers of the Balkan Ride and several other rallies around the world. The 2018 running of this particular adventure will take place from August 3-11, once again starting in Sarajevo and ending a week later in Thessaloniki. If you’re driving your own vehicle, then entry start from €880 (Dhs 3,900) per person including all accommodation along the route. Contact the Travel Scientists if you wish to hire one of their vehicles.
The distance learning plan
Spring break will be from March 8 - 19
Public school pupils will undergo distance learning from March 22 - April 2. School hours will be 8.30am to 1.30pm
Staff will be trained in distance learning programmes from March 15 - 19
Teaching hours will be 8am to 2pm during distance learning
Pupils will return to school for normal lessons from April 5
2024%20Dubai%20Marathon%20Results
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Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
Global state-owned investor ranking by size
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UAE
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Japan
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The burning issue
The internal combustion engine is facing a watershed moment – major manufacturer Volvo is to stop producing petroleum-powered vehicles by 2021 and countries in Europe, including the UK, have vowed to ban their sale before 2040. The National takes a look at the story of one of the most successful technologies of the last 100 years and how it has impacted life in the UAE.
Read part four: an affection for classic cars lives on
Read part three: the age of the electric vehicle begins
Read part one: how cars came to the UAE
SPECS
Engine: Two-litre four-cylinder turbo
Power: 235hp
Torque: 350Nm
Transmission: Nine-speed automatic
Price: From Dh167,500 ($45,000)
On sale: Now
'Operation Mincemeat'
Director: John Madden
Cast: Colin Firth, Matthew Macfayden, Kelly Macdonald and Penelope Wilton
Rating: 4/5