A film that pays homage to the bravery of the women of SOE who parachuted into occupied France has long been overdue and in my opinion is still to be made as this film falls short of the mark, however, not as insultingly as the Charlotte Gray film did, where the woman agent was portrayed as delicate and ditched her mission for the sake of a romance. For a European production this movie is surprisingly dumbed down and makes the same senseless historical mistakes usually associated with mechanically produced Hollywood films. This is no atmospheric masterpiece as the characters are shallow, the script is too basic and the camera work is conventional. It feels as if the film were made in a hurry, which is a shame as they definitely had the resources available to make it visually convincing with plenty of vintage cars, Kubelwagens, costumes, planes, trains and cool locations etc...This film could be OK for people who just want some eye candy for 90 minutes.
Justice has so far only been made to the real women agents in books and it is scandalous how film makers have overlooked the potential for making a credible movie given the abundance of real and amazing material out there. Why Directors who have so far tackled this subject have ruined it all with fictional nonsense,is anybodies guess. If you are really interested in the subject you should read about agents such as Nancy Wake or the revealing book by Marcus Binney titled "The women who lived for danger", which tells the gripping stories of 10 different agents. There was also an excellent channel 4 documentary called "The Real Charlotte Grays".
Fiction vs historical fact (Contains Spoilers)............. As an avid reader of everything SOE I was groaning early on in this film as the historical facts were shamelessly trampled under foot by the director. First off they have Maurice Buckmaster telling war secrets to a woman who hasn't even decided whether to accept the mission yet. She then goes on to recruit women who are not interested in going, which is an insult to the real agents as they were highly motivated people who were vetted by SOE on a very strict basis. Then the 5 agents go to France without any training and travel together on trains without taking any security measures. 5 agents together on a train? What were they thinking? Whatsmore, they all get off at a main Paris station rather than get off one stop before and bus in to avoid the German presence they knew would be at all main stations...The story about the geologist on the beach, a week before the Normandy invasion is just plain ridiculous. As if they didn't know the density of the sand till a week before the operation. Finally, SOE never sent brothers and sisters or married couples together on missions for the simple fact that they could be tortured in front of each other to make them talk. When are they going to make "The Movie" about SOE?
Justice has so far only been made to the real women agents in books and it is scandalous how film makers have overlooked the potential for making a credible movie given the abundance of real and amazing material out there. Why Directors who have so far tackled this subject have ruined it all with fictional nonsense,is anybodies guess. If you are really interested in the subject you should read about agents such as Nancy Wake or the revealing book by Marcus Binney titled "The women who lived for danger", which tells the gripping stories of 10 different agents. There was also an excellent channel 4 documentary called "The Real Charlotte Grays".
Fiction vs historical fact (Contains Spoilers)............. As an avid reader of everything SOE I was groaning early on in this film as the historical facts were shamelessly trampled under foot by the director. First off they have Maurice Buckmaster telling war secrets to a woman who hasn't even decided whether to accept the mission yet. She then goes on to recruit women who are not interested in going, which is an insult to the real agents as they were highly motivated people who were vetted by SOE on a very strict basis. Then the 5 agents go to France without any training and travel together on trains without taking any security measures. 5 agents together on a train? What were they thinking? Whatsmore, they all get off at a main Paris station rather than get off one stop before and bus in to avoid the German presence they knew would be at all main stations...The story about the geologist on the beach, a week before the Normandy invasion is just plain ridiculous. As if they didn't know the density of the sand till a week before the operation. Finally, SOE never sent brothers and sisters or married couples together on missions for the simple fact that they could be tortured in front of each other to make them talk. When are they going to make "The Movie" about SOE?