Almost 160 thousand Allied soldiers are preparing to cross the English Channel, but a storm is forming over the Atlantic. British meteorologist James Stagg (played by Andrew Scott – “Ripley”, “We Are Who We Are”) must convince the Allied forces commander Dwight Eisenhower (played by Oscar winner Brendan Fraser – “The Whale”, “The Mummy”) to postpone the operation, although no one has absolute guarantees about the weather.
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Before the premiere, the film was shown in a special screening to Lithuanian meteorology professionals. The drama at the center of the military thriller seemed unusually familiar and moving to them. For climate change researcher and former meteorologist Silvestras Dikčius, one of the film’s strongest aspects was precisely how accurately it portrayed the meteorologist’s work and its invisible tension.
In the film, Stagg’s situation amplifies this professional tension to an almost unimaginable scale. His forecast is not meant for a newspaper or weekend plans; the success of a military operation and the lives of many people depend on it.
“Watching it, I even thought that what Stagg managed to do with the data and tools of that time today seems almost unbelievable. We have excellent meteorologists, but we have become so accustomed to digital models that we have probably lost some of the ability to determine the atmosphere’s future from very limited data,” says S. Dikčius.
According to him, that is why “D-Day. Before the Storm” works not only as a war film.
“It is a film about war, but also about professionalism and the responsibility to make decisions when science cannot give you a hundred percent guarantee. In several places, it really moved me deeply. After the screening, my former supervisor even came up to hug me; it was clear that former meteorologist colleagues experienced the film very personally. I have never seen meteorological tension revealed so dramatically and so accurately in cinema.”
Specialists from the Lithuanian Hydrometeorological Service who attended the screening also recognized a well-known professional feeling in the film.
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“That unique feeling of waiting, when you almost know what should happen soon and wait to see if nature will confirm it. Whether more than 80 years ago, when observation information was very limited, or now, when meteorological satellites, radars, supercomputers, and artificial intelligence are used – the elements are in no hurry to reveal the secrets of their nature,” said one specialist after the screening.
Another viewer from the meteorological community said the film “very accurately shows what it really means to be a meteorologist – the tension and responsibility you feel forecasting extreme weather and knowing that other people’s decisions depend on your forecast.”
For S. Dikčius, this film screening also reminded him of his own experience working as a meteorologist.
“I was still young, a meteorologist with little experience, and during one shift, I had to forecast a very strong storm. Such a forecast is not just a sentence on the radio or television; warnings go to services, ports, railways, many institutions. The sense of responsibility was enormous then,” he recalls.
After the forecast, all that was left was to wait.
“I remember that when the wind finally strengthened and the trees in Vilnius began to sway properly and I saw a gust-beaten advertising board, I knew the storm was already raging by the sea. Only then did I feel relief. It sounds paradoxical, but during a dangerous event, meteorologists often rejoice that the atmosphere behaves as you forecasted and your warning was justified.”
The military thriller “D-Day. Before the Storm,” based on true events and directed by Anthony Maras (“Hotel Mumbai”), will be in Lithuanian cinemas from September 11.
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