They
survived the Battle of Britain, only to be killed during the so-called peace. Like
so many of their Home Army comrades, a high percentage Polish RAF volunteers
were purged and executed after returning to a Communist dominated Poland,
despite their critical contributions to the victory over fascism. Their history
of fighting for freedom made them a potential threat to the new socialist
regime, whereas former Nazi collaborators could be trusted to have the right
attitude towards power. That fact (forthrightly acknowledged) makes the heroics
of the Polish fighter pilots ironically poignant in David Blair’s Mission of Honor (a.k.a. Hurricane), which is now showing in select
cities.
Even
though he is part Swiss, Jan Zumbach opts to continue fighting the National
Socialists occupying his country as an RAF pilot. Like his commanding officer
Witold Urbanowicz, he too fears for the safety of the woman he left behind in
Poland. Unfortunately, they will not rejoin the fray as soon as they would
prefer. Frankly, the RAF chain of command is not sure what to make of their
Polish volunteers. With the exceptions of Zumbach and Urbanowicz, the Poles’
fluency in English is iffy at best. However, the Germans have been shooting
down RAF pilots at an alarming rate, so they need reinforcements badly.
Of
course, the Polish RAF pilots exceeded expectations quite swimmingly. Yet, they
remained keenly aware of their outsider status. Still, they had the support of
their British flight commander, John Kent, as well as many of the women serving
in non-combat capacities. In fact, screenwriters Robert Ryan and Alastair
Galbraith do a nice job giving overdue credit to the Women’s Auxiliary Air
Force (WAAF), primarily represented by Phyllis Lambert, who rather catches the
eye of Zumbach.
Iwan
Rheon might be Welsh, but he does a credible Swiss-Polish accent as Zumbach. He
portrays the Polish ace with an appropriately heroic bearing but also gives him
a dark, intense edge. Rheon also develops some smart, mature chemistry with
Stefanie Martini as the surprisingly sexually frank Lambert. Milo Gibson comes
across reasonably authoritative and Canadian as Kent, making his evolution from
skeptic to honorary Pole pretty believable. Frankly, Zumbach and Lambert are
the sharpest drawn characters, while Rheon and Gibson disproportionately carry
the dramatic load, but Marcin Dorocinski adds some authenticity as the steely
Urbanowicz.
Granted,
Mission cannot match the technical
accomplishments of Dunkirk, but its
flying sequences look considerably better than those in Air Strike. Indeed, it is superior to Xiao Feng’s clunky
anti-Japanese propaganda piece in just about every way.
According
the closing titles, 56% of UK public opinion supported repatriating exiled
Poles, even though it meant certain oppression and likely death. They also
turned Winston Churchill out of office, but at least they were able to correct
that sad mistake in 1951. Frankly, you have to give the film credit for ending
on such an honest and bittersweet note, because most of the guts of Mission are generally stirring stuff. Recommended
for fans of stiff-upper-lip British war films, Mission of Honor is currently screening at the AMC Arizona Center
in Phoenix and is also available via VOD.
