Operation Mincemeat – A Messy True Story Period War Drama

This operation will perhaps be a lot more than some viewers may have anticipated for better or worse. Either way, British films always have a certain kind of charm to them regardless of genre. Based on a true story, Operation Mincemeat is a British period war film with an admittedly ridiculous premise that is also far too long and slow which only makes its running time, pushing the 2 hour mark, feel much longer at times. Where its issues ultimately are found are within its needing to overcomplicate that premise by taking it in so many directions both narratively and tonally. This results in not only a longer running time but also a mess of a watch, especially for its inability to execute any of those directions in a compelling way and failing to make them work as a cohesive enough whole. That being said, however much of a mess that the film may be, what keeps it afloat is its performances from an impressive British cast with Colin Firth and Matthew Macfadyen leading the way. Though in the end, they and their collective charm can only do so much.

Operation Mincemeat takes place in the early 1940s and follows the unbelievable true story of the work of two clever military intelligence officers named Ewen Montagu (Firth) and Charles Cholmondeley (Macfadyen) in crafting a deception operation called Operation Mincemeat. This operation would not be just any undertaking, dropping a dead man in enemy territory along with doctored evidence of a fake invasion of Greece in the hopes of diverting Nazi forces away from the Allies intended target of Sicily. However to make such a deception believable, the dead man disguised to be a soldier needed a believable story and backstory to lend some credence to the doctored evidence. An underdog operation from the very start, this provided ample reason to root for Montagu, Cholmondeley, and a resourceful secretary named Jean Leslie (Macdonald), the third major part of the operation. A matter of life or death for the thousands of soldiers involved, the story became something much more than that. Perhaps as a means to supplement or arguably distract from its thin premise, the film became something far less interesting or charming as it piled on more subplots and tones.

Seemingly distancing itself from the operation and the overarching WWII storylines, Operation Mincemeat became a convoluted character story that wasn’t sure what it wanted to be so just did everything. In the midst of the operation, Montagu, Cholmondeley, and Leslie found themselves in a love triangle of sorts that was both dull and essentially went nowhere. Meanwhile, the three were put under the microscope by the powers that be who all expected them to fail. Going around in circles, the middle of the film moved at a near-glacial pace as viewers are left waiting for the operation to succeed or fail more so than everything else. Though those familiar with the backstory already more or less know the end result, the film provides little reason to care about the story or characters. It’s only contribution appeared to be a series of derivative and cheesy platitudes about war given through narration over the course of the film provided by a familiar name in Lieutenant Commander Ian Fleming (Johnny Flynn) which were surely intended to set the mood but added nothing.

The best part of the film was of course its performances. Boasting a decent cast, delivering solid performances across the board and at least keeping the film watchable in spite of its may flaws. That begins with Firth and Macfadyen as Montagu and Cholmondeley. For what the characters lacked in depth, the two made up for in charm though again, that could only go so far. Their chemistry made for a somewhat fun dynamic to watch. If only the film trusted them more than it did. Macdonald as Leslie added to that dynamic nicely, holding her own alongside Firth and Macfayden but the character had the potential to have been so much more.

At the end of the day, Operation Mincemeat will still find an audience in spite of its issues because of its cast but there are better offerings out there.

still courtesy of Netflix

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Keith Noakes

The EIC of the coincidentally-named keithlovesmovies.com. A Canadian who prefers to get out of the cold and into the warmth of a movie theatre.