What is Operation Mincemeat starring Colin Firth about?

Get ready to see of our favorite Mr. Darcys work in tandem to pull off one of the most impressive feats of spycraft during World War II. Operation Mincemeat arrives this Wednesday, May 11, on Netflix and stars Colin First and Matthew MacFadyen as British intelligence officers that create a seemingly impossible plan to relinquish the Nazi grip on occupied Europe.

Based on the extraordinary true story and the book by historian Ben Macintyre, this historical drama follows Ewen Montagu and Charles Cholmondeley as they release a corpse into the sea with falsified documents in the hopes of misleading the Nazis and securing the Allies a significant victory.

Operation Mincemeat also received a limited theatrical release on May 6, but will be available globally for all on Netflix this Wednesday. Besides MacFadyen and Firth, the cast also includes Jason Isaacs, Kelly Macdonald, Penelope Wilton and Johnny Flynn. Director John Madden is behind hit movies like Shakespeare in Love and The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.

What is Operation Mincemeat about?

When one considers how spying was carried out during wartime, you might expect something as glamorous as a Bond movie, but in reality the careful subterfuge required far more nuance and technicalities. Operation Mincemeat really gets into how this (real) operation was pulled off and whether or not it was successful.

Official synopsis, courtesy of Netflix:

"It’s 1943. The Allies are determined to break Hitler’s grip on occupied Europe, and plan an all-out assault on Sicily; but they face an impossible challenge – how to protect a massive invasion force from potential massacre. It falls to two remarkable intelligence officers, Ewen Montagu (Colin Firth) and Charles Cholmondeley (Matthew Macfadyen) to dream the most inspired and improbable disinformation strategy of the war – centered on the most unlikely of secret agents: a dead man. Operation Mincemeat is the extraordinary and true story of an idea that hoped to alter the course of the war – defying logic, risking countless thousands of lives, and testing the nerves of its creators to breaking point."

If you haven’t had the chance to watch the trailer yet, I highly recommend you take a look, as it showcases the film’s fascinating storyline. It’s a war drama, but it’s also a spy thriller and plays out almost like a heist movie in some respects.

Operation Mincemeat releases this Wednesday, May 11, on Netflix.