Fans throughout the Americas just got access to Operation Mincemeat, a harrowing war movie that is based on a true story. The film is about a risky intelligence operation to deceive the Axis forces and distract from the Allies’ true intentions. The movie dropped on Netflix earlier this month, and it’s clear that many viewers went into it without knowing how it would end.
Operation Mincemeat is based on a book by Ben Macintyre. The screenplay was written by Michelle Ashford and it was directed by John Madden. Stars include Colin Firth, Matthew Macfadyen, Kelly Macdonald, Penelope Wilton, Johnny Flynn and Jason Isaacs. It is set in the United Kingdom in 1943, and centers around the counter-espionage branch of the British military known as the Twenty Committee. At the time of the movie, Sicily is the Allies’ most obvious target, so the Committee sets out to convince the Axis that they are gearing up to attack on a different front to leave Sicily undefended.
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In terms of historical accuracy, it’s hard to say how much of the movie really happened and where it might be missing the mark. It draws on Macintyre’s book, but another book written by one of the operation’s participants was also published in the 1950s. Obviously, operational security has mired some details of the operation in mystery even to this day.
According to a report by Screen Rant, the most likely area for the movie to be inaccurate is in terms of each character’s involvement. For example, Macintyre believes that Ian Fleming was responsible for writing much more of the Trout memo than he is credited for, but that has never been conclusively proven. Other sources suggest that Fleming was even less involved in the operation than he gets credit for in real-life history.
Regardless, the movie has left a huge impression on its viewers so far. At the time of this writing, it has 93 percent positive reviews on Rotten Tomatoes with an average rating of 6.8 out of 10. The critical consensus reads: “If its fact-based story proves more fascinatingly outlandish than it’s presented here, Operation Mincemeat remains an engaging and well-acted wartime drama.”
Operation Mincemeat premiered at the British Film Festival in Australia last year, but it did not get a wide release until April 15 2022. Netflix acquired the rights to distribute in North America and parts of Central America and South America. It released the movie in those regions on May 11, 2022.
Operation Mincemeat is streaming now on Netflix in the U.S. Macintyre’s book is available now wherever books are sold, as is Ewen Montagu’s book The Man Who Neve Was.
