The storm before the storm

Meteorology. Hmm, doesn’t sound like a box-office winner, except perhaps for the odd natural-disaster blockbuster (Twister, anyone?). But what if we’re talking about the weather forecast that informed one of the most significant military decisions ever made? 

The forecast for June 6, 1944, the date of the D-Day landings that paved the way for victory over Nazi Germany in WWII, could not have had more riding on it.  

To pull off the largest amphibious invasion in history, GEN Dwight D. Eisenhower needed his ducks to be not only in a row but paddling with military precision in a placid pond. 

A full moon, calm seas, minimal cloud cover, light winds – imagine how much poring over weather maps was involved in planning the mission around those conditions.  

Conveniently, Australian director Anthony Maras (with the help of David Haig’s 2014 stage play) has done the imagining for us in his earnest war drama Pressure. The story of the tense days leading up to D-Day, during which Eisenhower grapples with a life-and-death call of unthinkable proportions, is gripping, if a little ponderous in places. 

Eisenhower’s decision is complicated by fundamental disagreement – on a professional and personal level – between his advising meteorologists, the Royal Air Force’s GPCAPT James Stagg and American COL Irving Krick. 

Stagg, as Andrew Scott plays him, is tightly wound in his arrogance, both confident in and wracked by the conclusions to which his meticulous application of science leads him. The arrogance of Chris Messina’s swaggering Krick is built on blind faith in historical data and his own complacency. 

Until Stagg’s arrival, Krick has held court with the Operation Overlord commanders, including a belligerent GEN Bernard Montgomery (Damian Lewis). Krick jokes, sings and sees wearing a uniform as optional. The taciturn Stagg, whose missing pregnant wife adds vulnerability to his storyline, soon changes all that. His buttoned-down demeanour and the inconvenient truths he delivers are unpopular but the stakes are too high for him to care.  

Eisenhower, played by Brendan Fraser and less intimidating than you might expect the Allies’ Supreme Commander to be, must make what he will of the conflicting advice. 

Much searching of data and souls goes on as the big day (originally planned for June 5 until the weather reneged) looms and the pressure builds on all involved. Most of the action is concentrated at the Allies’ Southwick House headquarters and the closeness of it all heightens the drama with a dash of claustrophobia. 

While I can’t vouch for the historical accuracy of many elements of the film, there’s no questioning the magnitude of the decisions made in that moment. And this story from behind the scenes is an enlightening one. 

If nothing else, it brings to life Eisenhower’s reported explanation to John F. Kennedy of the Allies’ winning advantage: “We had better meteorologists than the Germans.”