Nervous ticks of the clock abound in ‘Six Minutes to Midnight’
There’s always room for another cracking story of espionage pitting the British against the Nazis. This one, set in rural England, is the idea of comedian and actor Eddie Izzard, who stars — in a dramatic role — and cowrote the screenplay.
Although some early publicity suggests the film is based on fact, only the setting is. Most of it takes place at Augusta Victoria College, a real (now defunct) girls school in the seaside town of Bexhillon-Sea. The fictional story that’s played out comes from the mind of Izzard, who grew up in that town.
The film opens with what appears to be an intelligence operation gone wrong. Mr. Wheatley (Nigel Lindsay), a teacher at the school, is desperately searching a classroom for something that he hid, then makes his way to a phone where he anxiously tells someone, “The camera is missing. They know they’re being watched.” Wheatley vanishes. It’s not until after his prospective replacement arrives at the school, new English teacher Thomas Miller (Izzard), that Wheatley’s body washes up on the nearby beach.
It’s August 1939, just a couple of weeks before Germany invaded Poland to begin WWII. At Miller’s job interview with Miss Rocholl (Judi Dench), who runs the school, she tells him that his predecessor was unreliable, that her students — all of them German girls, daughters and goddaughters of
high-ranking Nazis — are about to be presented to the Anglo-German Fellowship, and that they need order in their lives.
But why are these girls in England? What was Mr. Wheatley doing? Is Miller really just an English teacher? Why is Miss Rocholl OK with having the girls at her proper British school, and what’s with her righthand woman Ilsa (Carla Juri)? There are many more questions, and most of them are answered quite satisfactorily.
The mysteries keep unfolding and deepening. Everything is resolved in time for the tense conclusion. Alas, the story ends unnervingly on what we all realize is the eve of war.
“Six Minutes to Midnight” opens in select theaters and premieres on VOD March 26.