Operation Mincemeat - A Good Story with a Needlessly Elongated First Act

Streaming on Netflix

    Famed British spy-novelist Ian Fleming, a former Naval Intelligence Officer and creator of the world-famous James Bond character, makes a brief but appropriate cameo in this film. I bring this up because one of the criticisms lodged against Fleming's writings (aside from the blatant sexism, alcoholism, and xenophobia) is how he would spend multiple pages describing every single (often irrelevant) detail of things that are happening in the story, despite how little thematic weight they would carry. According to one critic of his works, in the novel Goldfinger, it took an entire page for Fleming to describe a character taking a photograph, because he had to spend so much time describing the camera being used, the roll of film being used, and the specific bulb being used for the flash. It's the kind of writing that takes "considerable effort not to fall asleep while reading."

    This happens to be a perfect descriptor for today's subject, Operation Mincemeat: a film with a compelling and fascinating story about some of the more unsung heroes of the Second Great War, surrounding a secret operation that would eventually lead to victory for the Allied forces, only to be bogged down by an introduction that simply won't stop. And by the time it does, you find yourself asking, "Wait, why wasn't the movie more about THIS stuff?" 

    The story follows a secret cabal of British intelligence operatives, led by one Ewen Montagu (Colin Firth), tasked with an impossible but vital mission for the war effort: fool the Nazi's that the Allied forces are planning to invade their territory through Greece, when in fact, they plan to invade through the beaches of Sicily. How do they hope to fool the Germans? By planting a fake dead officer with forged papers suggesting a complete invasion of Greece, and helping the papers make their way to German intelligence. It's a plan requiring the right people at the right place at the right time, all held together by hope, faith, and bubble gum (okay, I made up that last thing, but it seemed appropriate). 

    Inspired by actual events, this is a worthy story for a film! It's compelling, has tons of interesting conflicts, and offers so many opportunities for things to go wrong and to be course-corrected to ensure the papers go where they need to go. There is an excellent film within this plot. Unfortunately, the film we got chooses to spend the first half of its over two-hour runtime going over the fine details of the fake officer's backstory and personality they're creating together before they actually plant the damn body! 

    For the first hour of the film, we get a brief introduction of our main protagonist, a quick description of the plan to deceive the German forces, and then nearly an hour of the team crafting their fake officers' backstory, hobbies, personality, and events building up to his demise. Then, after all of that, the film finally gets something resembling a pulse when they drop off the fake body and carefully monitor and adjust its movements, ensuring all the pieces fall into place to get the fake intelligence to the German forces. You know, the stuff that is way more interesting and engaging that would make for a much more compelling narrative? 

    Now, to be fair, it's not like the storytellers were wasting their time with the first act (overlong though it is). While the story builds up the fake officer's backstory, the film shows how the ones who are crafting this character are living vicariously through it all as a means of coping with the atrocities of war and dealing with their own personal conflicts. There is a good deal of personal human drama happening in between the details of their fake officer, including things like unhappy marriages and closeted relationships, which are all acceptable and worthy things to include in a story, especially those about WW2. Still, they aren't enough to carry the weight of a story centering around chaotic espionage, at least not as much as the filmmakers wanted them to be. 

    Operation Mincemeat is a decently crafted film with committed performances, gorgeous images, and sections of compelling spy thriller stuff that deserve their own movie in their own right. However, the overtly long first act with misplaced narrative priorities, understandable though they are, makes for a less-than-compelling experience that deserved significantly better. If you're looking for a compelling WW2 film with hints of engaging espionage, go watch Quentin Tarantino's Inglorious Bastards. If you want a good old-fashioned British spy thriller, watch any of the classic James Bond movies, specifically the ones with Sean Connery (the ORIGINAL Bond). Otherwise, there's no justifiable reason to watch this movie other than one of the many things on Netflix to serve as white noise while you fold your laundry. 

    Watch it only for its historical significance and not much else. 

Ladies & gentlemen, I am TheNorm; thank you all for reading.