First Look at Netflix's Unique WWII Film OPERATION MINCEMEAT About the Recruitment of a Dead Man
Netflix has shared a first look at its upcoming World War II film, Operation Mincemeat, and this sounds like it’s going to be a wild and unique film. The film tells the true story of two British intelligence officers who “try to turn the tide of World War II by recruiting an unlikely agent: a dead man."
Like they always say, sometimes truth is stranger than fiction! The British officers “obtained the body of Glyndwr Michael, a tramp who died from eating rat poison, dressed him as an officer of the Royal Marines and placed personal items on him identifying him as the fictitious Captain (Acting Major) William Martin. Correspondence between two British generals which suggested that the Allies planned to invade Greece and Sardinia, with Sicily as merely the target of a feint, was also placed on the body.”
British Prime Minster Winston Churchill and military commander in the Mediterranean, General Dwight D. Eisenhower, approved the plan and the body was transported to the southern coast of Spain by submarine and it was released close to shore, where it was picked up the following morning by a Spanish fisherman. The Spanish government shared copies of the documents with the German military intelligence before returning the originals to the British. The Germans fell for the trick. Reinforcements were shifted to Greece and Sardinia before and during the invasion of Sicily; Sicily received none.
The movie is based on Ewen Montagu's 1953 book, The Man Who Never Was, and it was directed by John Madden (Shakespeare in Love, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, Miss Sloane) from a script written by Michelle Ashford.
The film has a great cast that includes Colin Firth (Kingsman: The Secret Service), Matthew Macfadyen (Pride & Prejudice, Frost/Nixon, Succession), Kelly Macdonald (No Country for Old Men, Brave, Boardwalk Empire), and Johnny Flynn (Emma).
Via: /Film