One of the most important and most consequential days in the history of the 20th century was D-Day, the day the Allied forces invaded France by landing on the beaches of Normandy. Pressure tells the true and mostly untold story of one of the contributing elements to the decision to invade on that day: The British weather.

In the last 72 hours before the invasion, Britain’s chief meteorological officer, Dr. James Stagg (Andrew Scott), is called in to evaluate the weather and advise the Allied Commander, Dwight Eisenhower (Brendan Frazer) on the weather and if it was suitable for the mission. As it turned out, there was a huge weather front coming in and Stagg could simply not allow the mission to proceed, even though the entire high command, and most of his own subordinates, were pressuring him to go along. Too much was at stake.

You can’t watch too many war movies. After I walked out of the theater, I had to tell myself that I had just witnessed one crucial aspect of one of the most consequential battles in history. Yet, all I could think of was: Here was another example of our leaders sending other people’s sons and daughters into harm’s way. Eisenhower surely learned, but our president today plays with this awesome responsibility like it’s a reality show – you “get killed” and it means you’re voted off the island. Well – no – you get killed and you’re dead!

Dead!

Pressure is a movie I definitely recommend you watch. It made me think I should pick up a biography of Eisenhower so I could learn what stuff real presidents are made of.