The Reel Review
The newly-appointed chief meteorologist for Allied Forces learns that World War II’s outcome hinges on his forecast being accurate to ensure that the clandestine D-Day, the largest seaborne invasion in history, is a success. Andrew Scott, Brendan Fraser and Kerry Condon star in this period war thriller with a double entendre of a title, based on playwright/actor David Haig’s long-running 2014 stage play about real life events.
Kudos to Haig and director Anthony Maras (Hotel Mumbai) for managing to make a story about weather forecasting more exciting than ever thought possible. An understated Scott (All of Us Strangers, Fleabag) is quietly convincing as the reserved, data-driven Scotsman facing an increasingly panicked U.S. General Dwight Eisenhower (Fraser) and his other Allied military leaders – as well as a rival American crackpot meteorologist (Chris Messina), whose pandering, phony pseudoscience tells the military brass only what they want to hear. Condon (F1: The Movie, The Banshees of Inisherin) is Eisenhower’s trusted aide who believes Stagg when no one else does.
Fraser’s distracting, over-the-top portrait of Eisenhower is a bit cartoonish compared to the real-life future U.S. President, who was known for being both warm and friendly but with a fiery temper. And the filmmakers’ decision not to include the pivotal third key meteorologist, Norwegian Sverre Petterssen, whose forecast aligned with Stagg’s and greatly helped influence Eisenhower’s decision, is unfortunate. But by incorporating colorized archival footage inspired by Peter Jackson’s outstanding 2019 World War I documentary They Shall Not Grow Old and highlighting the pinpoint accuracy of Stagg’s needle-thread of a forecast, Maras gives his film a sense of urgency that makes it, like WWII’s Allied Forces, a winner.
REEL FACTS
• In a remarkable coincidence, one of the assistant editors hired to review archival footage turned out to be the grandson of the film’s main character, Dr. James Stagg.
• The crew hired meteorologists in their 90s to train the cast on the century-old weather forecasting equipment as well as how to create exact replicas of the weather maps used for D-Day forecasting.
• More than 350,000 Allied soldiers took part in D-Day, fighting about 50,000 Nazi German troops on the French coastline, who used artillery guns and minefields in their failed attempt to stop the Allied Forces. 10% of Allied soldiers and 20% of the Germans were killed in the battle.
Video & Photo
