Starring Colin Firth, Matthew Macfadyen, Kelly Macdonald, PenelopeWilton, Johnny Flynn, Jason Isaacs, Simon Russell Beale. Written by Michelle Ashford, directed by John Madden. Running time 128 minutes.
Based on the book of the same title written by Ben Macintrye, this is a recounting of an actual World War II operation carried out by British Military Intelligence back in 1943 when Operation Mincemeat was launched to convince the Germans that the Brits were going to invade Greece rather than Sicily. To do this, a super secret agency called Department 20, operated from Room 13 and lead by Ewen Montagu (Colin Firth) and Charles Cholmondeley (Matthew Macfadyen) are ably aided by Jean Leslie (Kelly Macdonald), Hester Leggett (Penelope Wilton) and Ian Fleming (Johnny Flynn) to concoct a deception involving a corpse and a briefcase packed full of false intelligence reports that they need to fall in the hands of Hitler and the Nazis.
The film follows the mission from its inception to its conclusion, focusing on the meticulous planning at every step of the way. Matters are complicated by a very chaste three way romance, or misunderstanding between Ewen, Charles and Jean, while Admiral John Godfrey (Jason Issac) pops up to sow seeds of suspicion and voice his ire at the plan which he believes is a waste of time. Ratcheting up the tension, is the looming date of the invasion and the fact that the lives of literally tens of thousands of soldiers hang in the balance. The cast is, as you would expect all excellent, and this is a masterclass in restrained English acting, the locations and set designs are good and CGI is used sparingly and well.
A slow-moving and involving film, which while not leaving me dizzy with excitement was nevertheless engrossing and entertaining.
8/10
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