Tristan Ofield’s hour long documentary Operation Oman tells the largely untold story of three British soldiers who took part in one of the most successful counter insurgency campaigns fought in the middle east as part of the Sultan’s forces during the 1970’s.Tracing the story of this counter insurgency; Major Nicholas Ofield retraces his steps as he tells us a tale of battle, strife and the fear of death.
The film is well edited, well narrated by Al Gregg and well presented. The return to Oman by Nick Ofield itself is intriguing and inspiring; but the flow of the film is stuttered by this battle between personal and factual and it never quite reveals itself.
What begins as an excited deluge into a ‘secret war’ supported behind the curtains by British forces sadly never lives up to the hype, tapering off into a rather personal tale no doubt exaggerated by the writer and director being personally linked to events. This wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing, but the film is advertised, and in fact begins, as a historical documentary aiming to reveal to secrets of a unknown war in Oman but finishes as more a personal insight lacking any real detail, facts or impact.
At the films conclusion I was left knowing very little more than I did at the start of the feature and I didn’t feel as if I could know go and brag to my friends about a secret war only knew about. I was in fact more confsed and lost than I was before. The audience isn’t made aware of the soldiers rank until the very close of the film and it focuses so heavily on one individual that the role of countless local soldiers and those from other nations are lost almost entirely. Tristan Ofield, the film’s director and son of Major Nick Ofield has been quoted to say ‘This is basically my dad’s account…but when I got back I started making something a little bit more serious’. Operation Oman could have done better remaining his Dad’s film; perhaps then it would have the consistency and clarity that this film needed.
I fully support this films intention and its aim to open up a previous unpublicised counter insurgency supported by British troops, but I was left disappointed in its level of detail and its inability to focus on either the personal or the factual.
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