KATIE'S MISSION

WARNING: Includes spoilers!

Crickets chirp, corn sways in a field, a steam train rounds a corner and two soldiers climb aboard. It’s 1942, and staunch Jack Wilson (Ben Pavord) and his wide-eyed brother Pete (Jon Napier) are off to the battlefields of northern France, leaving behind them Pete’s wife (Lisa Ruthven). Joining them two years later in Caen are likeable whiner Horrigan (Dave Parsons) and nay-saying stiff Len (Shaun Steer), who find their mission going awry when they discover an orphaned baby. Jack decides that they must protect the baby at all costs, but is personal tragedy making his decisions for him?

Katie’s Mission is an ambitious – and at times over-ambitious – World War II drama with a hint of the supernatural; Saving Private Ryan’s little brother with a Twilight Zone tinge. It’s obvious from the swish new Hanover Pictures logo and the opening shots that we’re in more thoughtful territory than in previous productions, and indeed the writing is subtle more often than not. In execution, however, the film lies somewhere between the rough and ready charm of Hanover Pictures’ early days and the slick professionalism of more recent co-productions with the ITV West Workshop, such as Coldharbour.

Direction is certainly more assured, and quieter, than in earlier films but often falls into standard, TV movie ordinariness. There’s nothing wrong with it exactly, but it’s not especially memorable, and while black and white photography adds weight to the piece, it’s a blandish monochrome rather than a distinctive style. Shots that stick in the memory include the soldiers sitting beneath a tree, Len aiming his rifle through a fence, and the four men walking along the horizon. The movie’s big set piece is a battle involving British, American and German troops, and it’s hard not to admire the organisation involved; but while, presumably, the intention was to replicate the frantic atmosphere of battle, the scene is often confusing with little sense of geography. Authentic army uniforms and equipment take us back to the ‘40s but the occasional lapse in period detail – like Jon’s sideburns – undermine the effort. It’s interesting to see the first use of CG effects in a Hanover film, as an enemy plane skirts the trees. Less obvious is the inclusion in some scenes of a real baby rather than the doll-in-a-blanket approach in others; the baby is ingeniously planted into shots and you’ll be hard pressed to tell when if you’re not aware of it.

Of the performers, Ben is the strongest; he’s superb, with a nice line in subtle facial expressions. He makes Jack a thoroughly decent chap, conscientious but blinded by his grief and concern for his brother. We’re on his side. Jon is excellent too, ably conveying Pete’s desire to prove himself and his being stifled by his older brother; his boyish enthusiasm gradually gives way to a more mature outlook. In support, Shaun is rather wooden at times but extremely likeable, displaying the same charm he did in Coldharbour and rubbing away some of Len’s rough edges. Dave manages to make what could have been an annoying character really sympathetic; Horrigan shows himself to be a good friend after Pete survives the land mine by talking to him and taking his mind off it. He’s just irritating enough.

As for the script: when it hits it hits, and when it misses... it clunks pretty badly. Amongst the Post-Its on the Hanover Pictures cork board must have been: ‘Include more walking about between conversations than Fellowship of the Ring’, ‘Add more dialogue along the lines of “We should be doing this!” “No, We shouldn’t be doing this!”’, and ‘Pete isn’t stupid enough: add a scene in which he gets his brother killed for no good reason’. There isn’t much bad dialogue but it’s peg-on-your-nose time when it comes along. ‘They didn’t call you dribble did they?’ Ooh er. Standout example is: ‘What do you suppose it was about?’ ‘Not worth lying here for,’ which just doesn’t flow. There’s too much contemporary slang (‘Are we gonna do this thing or what?’) and too many Americanisms (‘Sergeant, take the kid.’) to make the dialogue ring entirely true; a little more care in this area wouldn’t have gone amiss.

On the plus side, there are moments here that are genuinely touching because time has been spent building these characters up. It’s sad when Jack dies, it really is. The death of another key character is pretty affecting, too. The landmine scene is particularly tense because we like Pete and care about what might happen to him; nice use of silence here, building up tension and then letting us breathe out when it’s all over. It’s poignant when Jack shows Pete how he should hold the baby because we know that Pete’s wife was pregnant when he left. There’s a sudden death that comes as a jolt-in-your-chair surprise. Background information is revealed carefully and slowly, with no blocks of expository info-dump to be found.

The occasional problems with the screenplay are outweighed by the moments that are spot on thanks to the writing, performances, and patches of considered direction, and it’s this unexpected light touch that makes Katie’s Mission the jewel in Hanover’s crown. Apart from Den of Thieves. I really like Den of Thieves.