Hurricane

Hurricane (from Weird and Wonderful II: Fifty More Cult Films by George Hughes, available from www.freefall-productions.com)

2018 / Poland-UK / 107 minutes

“You teach us MPH not KPH, gallons not litres, feet instead of metres… But the one thing we all already know how to do is fly!”

Director: David Blair / Screenplay: Robert Ryan and Alastair Galbraith / Director of Photography: Piotr Sliskowski / Music: Laura Rossi / Production: Krystian Kozlowski and Mathew Whyte for Stray Dog Films / Cast: Iwan Rheon (Jan Zumbach), Milo Gibson (John Kent), Stefanie Martini (Phyllis Lambert), Krystof Hadek (Josef Frantisek), Marcin Dorocinski (Witold Urbanowicz), Manuel Klein (Trost), Rosie Gray (Georgina), Marc Hughes (Ellis), William Nash (Naval Controller), Karolina Zajac (Civilian 1), Monika Walczak (Civilian 2).

In the run- up to the eightieth anniversaries of the Dunkirk evacuation, the Blitz and the Battle of Britain, two high- profile British films, Christopher Nolan’s outstanding Dunkirk (2017) and Joe Wright’s less impressive Darkest Hour (also 2017) both, voluntarily or not, fed into what has become something of a collective national delusion.

   The simplistic idea that Britain stood alone against Nazi Germany in 1940 “Before the yanks got off their arses” has long existed in the public imagination but of course ignores the financial support from allied foreign governments in exile and the huge resources of the empire. And that while Churchill made his “We shall fight on the beaches” speech, much of the aristocracy- including three MP’s- were fleeing the country.

   This unfortunately also coincided with an unpleasant wave of Brexit- related, narrow-minded and wilfully ignorant populist nationalism- largely fuelled by the comfortable opinion makers of the post-war generation (however much many of them seem to think that they fought their parents’ conflict themselves).

   We are now living with the disastrous consequences, mostly in the form of unprecedented levels of government corruption and incompetence during a national crisis. But, enabled by a hopelessly ineffective non- opposition, we’re already seeing them trying to spin one of the worst pandemic responses in the world into a success story, perhaps beginning our next great feelgood by omission collective self- deception.

   However, in 2018, a much lower profile, more character- driven Second World War film emerged from Poland. A UK co- production, Hurricane follows the 303 RAF, a unit of mostly Polish Hawker Hurricane pilots that became the most successful squadron of the Battle of Britain. Whilst the American title was changed to Mission of Honor because audiences there wouldn’t get the Hurricane reference, it’s worth noting that the film’s original Polish title was simply 303- something most of us wouldn’t recognise as the story had been largely forgotten here.

   Hurricane begins with Polish Swiss pilot Jan Zumbach (Iwan Rheon in a welcome heroic role after making his name playing right bastards, most famously Ramsay Bolton on Game of Thrones) escaping Nazi- occupied France and making it to Britain in a stolen plane. Zumbach joins 303 and, as an English speaker, quickly becomes the main translator between the squad and their Canadian RAF commanding officer, John Kent (Milo Gibson).

   While the 303 Hurricane pilots go up against Messerschmitts several times throughout the film, the mostly CG aerial sequences are undeniably ropey by modern standards (real aircraft from the period have become much harder for films to get hold of since the days of Guy Hamilton’s Battle of Britain (1969) and Hurricane didn’t have a budget even approaching Dunkirk’s $150 million). But ultimately, this is a film much more interested in the human drama anyway.

   Fighting for a country that’s already fallen (and for personal revenge), 303 squadron also have to deal with the RAF’s very different procedures as well as the language barrier and cultural differences between them and the British officers. Zumbach’s affair with Phyllis (Stefanie Martini) also complicates matters as he struggles to keep his hard drinking men together and under control.

   Director David Blair (mostly known for his TV work with Jimmy McGovern) does outstanding work with a large, multinational cast and makes the most of the production’s limited resources, although the film did run out of money towards the end of shooting. Karolina Zajac (who later starred in my film Occasional (2019) and has just finished her scenes for The Cost of Our Blood) played one of the civilians in the first flashback to the Nazi atrocities in Poland and described a much longer sequence that was mostly shot but later abandoned.

   Hurricane also suffers a bit from the increasingly common problem of screenwriters writing (especially female) characters completely inappropriately for the period and Rheon’s extensive Polish dialogue- which he learnt phonetically- apparently sounds pretty strange and often quite comical to native speakers. But in spite of such shortcomings, it’s still an extremely strong film and a timely reminder of history as it’s not taught.

   While the real Zumbach went on to become a mercenary in Africa, the real Kent remained in the RAF until 1956 in and in 1965 said “I cannot say how proud I am to have been privileged to help form and lead No. 303 squadron and later to lead such a magnificent fighting force as the Polish Wing. There formed within me in those days an admiration, respect and genuine affection for these really remarkable men, which I have never lost.

   “I formed friendships that are as firm as they were those twenty- five years ago and this I find most gratifying. We who were privileged to fly and fight with them will never forget and Britain must never forget how much she owes to the loyalty and indomitable spirit and sacrifice of those Polish fliers. They were our staunchest allies in our darkest days; may they always be remembered as such”.

   Sadly, of course, they were not. At the end of the war and the west’s abandonment of Poland to Stalin, most of the Polish pilots were repatriated. And that Hurricane appeared to remind us of their story just after a gang of obvious crooks conned some miserable pensioners into again turning on one of the country’s most hardworking and reliable immigrant communities is especially poignant.

   A few predictable moaners complained that the film does the rest of the RAF a disservice by focussing on 303’s contribution but it has become something of a DVD and especially VOD sleeper hit in the UK over the past couple of years. And, in any case, such criticisms presumably miss that Zumbach gradually adopts a much more British attitude to dealing with war throughout the narrative- and actually seems to start to despair at the other men drowning themselves in vodka and Catholic angst.

   But once again, despite the stories of British exceptionalism that we’ve told ourselves and then drank until we believed them, we find ourselves in a situation where we need our (especially Eastern European) citizens more than ever. Just as in World War II, they’re on the front lines- this time in the NHS and as other key workers. To forget, or to deliberately erase them again would be unforgivable.