‘Now once more a supreme test has to be faced. This time the challenge is not to fight to survive, but to fight to win the final victory for the good cause.’ HM King George VI 6th June 1944
It’s been a while since I’ve visited a cinema, but on my recent trip to Yorkshire to reunite with a couple of old school friends (highly recommended), we visited just such an establishment in Halifax to watch Pressure.
It’s an adaptation of a stage play which relates not to life in general, but specifically to the 72 hours before D-Day. It’s a triumph for Andrew Scott who, apparently, played the ‘hot vicar’ in a series I haven’t seen, but was a great Moriarty to Benedict Cumberbatch’s Sherlock. I suspect his name may come up in the next batch of Oscar nominations. He plays the English meteorologist who refuses to bow to the peer pressure of the formidable Eisenhower (played with passion and aplomb by the wonderful Brendan Fraser who makes a welcome return to the screen) or the bombastic General Montgomery/ ‘Monty’ whose ego has got him believing his own press (a wonderful, probably realistic ego-driven representation from Damien Lewis).
The military chiefs are planning for the D-day invasion, scheduled for June 5th, which requires optimum weather conditions for the boats to land on the beaches of Normandy. The US meteorologist with a spotless record of correct predictions, Irving P Krick (Chris Messina) is at loggerheads with Scott’s character, James Stagg because, rather than procuring real time information from weather stations, he insists on relying on old maps and the weather conditions of previous years. Stagg is receiving more reliable data in real time which indicates an approaching storm which will make conditions treacherous. ‘Ike’, Eisenhower is caught between between a rock and a hard place as he must choose which adviser to believe, while ‘Monty’ rages that his men are all in place and that the logistics won’t support a delay. To pick the wrong window of opportunity would mean to flirt with disaster and the lives of thousands of men. ‘Ike’ is haunted by visions of the April practice exercise on Slapton Sands (the site of my A’level geography field trip incidentally), during which mistakes were made, live ammunition was used and between 750 and 950 men died.
In the event, Stagg’s stance prevails (thank goodness) and the operation is delayed. History shows us that, thanks to a break in the weather, a window of opportunity opened up to sail on June 6th.
What the film failed to include is the call by King George VI for a National Day of Prayer on that day. This was his seventh call to prayer for and by the nation. Photographs show queues of people outside churches and cathedrals in 1940, as prayers were held for the events of Dunkirk. The D-day vigil in 1944 followed a radio address by the King which you can hear here. In his speech, he said, ‘We who remain in this land can most effectively enter into the sufferings of subjugated Europe by prayer, whereby we can fortify the determination of our sailors, soldiers and airmen who go forth to set the captives free’
It’s estimated that millions flocked to places of worship to pray.
Was it then just a happy coincidence that the break in the weather afforded the space for troops to make the channel crossing and the plans for Operation Overlord/D-Day to go ahead; a day which many reflect saw the turning of the tide against the Nazi and Axis pact advances as over 150,000 British, Canadian and American troops poured into France via the Normandy beaches? Its success forced the German army to split its focus between Russia and this new front, thus accelerating liberation and the overthrow of Hitler’s regime.
Contemporary culture seems to shy away from including any spiritual dimension into stories, although it’s surely naive to dismiss them. We all have a spiritual dimension. The Bible remains the best-selling book of all time having been translated into over 3,600 languages – a record. Indeed, sales of Bibles in the UK have increased massively in the last six years – up by 134%. The spiritual vacuum of the last twenty to thirty years appears to be being questioned and explored by a new generation who have not found fulfilment in the secular, humanist narrative that assaults us on all sides.
In these uncertain and perilous days, perhaps it’s time for another National Day of Prayer, although I can’t see our current Sovereign carrying either the weight or the inclination for it. His mother might have done – in fact, it was requested during Covid. Churches Together in England requested such a day and declared 22nd March 2020 a National Day of Prayer and Action but the government refused to back it, maintaining a stance that they are operating from a secular constitutional basis. Churchill made no such claim.
Pressure is a great film; it just doesn’t tell the whole story. There’s still more going on being the scenes that the media sees fit to tell us. I’m convinced that getting on our knees, praying in the car, or whispering to the heavenlies from our beds are still activities that make a difference.
[Images courtesy of Pixabay]
