I enjoyed this movie reasonably well while watching it. It was afterward that my disappointment rose.
In some sense, I suppose the movie was a victim of its own success: by successfully sparking in me an interest in its protagonist, R. J. Mitchell, it drove me to do a little reading up on the real-life story of Mr. Mitchell, and unfortunately, the gap between the movie Mitchell and the real Mitchell is rather too wide for my taste. In particular, some of the most compelling parts of the movie story just never happened.
So, in actuality, Mitchell never went to Germany, never met Messerschmitt, never encountered strutting Nazi bluster that galvanized him to devote his life to developing a superior fighter plane for the British with which they could meet the Nazi threat. Actually, he was working on fighter aircraft design back in 1931, two years before the Nazi's assumed power in Germany.
What's more, the real Mitchell did *not* work himself to death on the Spitfire. The unspoken affliction which ultimately consumed him was actually cancer-- which no amount of rest was going to cure. So he did *not* deliberately choose to sacrifice his life for the cause. Yes, he did keep working during his illness, which is certainly heroic and praiseworthy. But it's a *far* cry from what the movie depicts.
It's a pity, because I think the real Mitchell's story was interesting enough all by itself to make a good movie out of, without manufacturing lies. Still, it was an entertaining movie, and most of the broad outlines of the history seem to be reasonably accurate. The print I saw was creaky and antique, with poor picture quality and sound (I *still* don't know what the offensive sign on the yacht said, since I could neither read it nor make out the dialog around it), but I won't take off points for that. I could've given the film seven or eight stars had it been accurate, but all the lies take it down to a six.
In some sense, I suppose the movie was a victim of its own success: by successfully sparking in me an interest in its protagonist, R. J. Mitchell, it drove me to do a little reading up on the real-life story of Mr. Mitchell, and unfortunately, the gap between the movie Mitchell and the real Mitchell is rather too wide for my taste. In particular, some of the most compelling parts of the movie story just never happened.
So, in actuality, Mitchell never went to Germany, never met Messerschmitt, never encountered strutting Nazi bluster that galvanized him to devote his life to developing a superior fighter plane for the British with which they could meet the Nazi threat. Actually, he was working on fighter aircraft design back in 1931, two years before the Nazi's assumed power in Germany.
What's more, the real Mitchell did *not* work himself to death on the Spitfire. The unspoken affliction which ultimately consumed him was actually cancer-- which no amount of rest was going to cure. So he did *not* deliberately choose to sacrifice his life for the cause. Yes, he did keep working during his illness, which is certainly heroic and praiseworthy. But it's a *far* cry from what the movie depicts.
It's a pity, because I think the real Mitchell's story was interesting enough all by itself to make a good movie out of, without manufacturing lies. Still, it was an entertaining movie, and most of the broad outlines of the history seem to be reasonably accurate. The print I saw was creaky and antique, with poor picture quality and sound (I *still* don't know what the offensive sign on the yacht said, since I could neither read it nor make out the dialog around it), but I won't take off points for that. I could've given the film seven or eight stars had it been accurate, but all the lies take it down to a six.