Kevin's Watch

I have been reading about the Dunkirk evacuation for years and when I read that Christopher Nolan was going to make a film about it I was thrilled. I plan to be in the theater this Sunday to see it. With 49 reviews Dunkirk currently has a 98% positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

What I have always found fascinating about what happened at Dunkirk is how the situation developed in the first place. The French had built the Maginot Line after World War I for the express purpose of defending their border from any future military invasion from Germany. What the French and the British Expeditionary Force didn't anticipate was that Hitler would choose to penetrate the French border via the Netherlands and Belgium and through the Ardennes forest, by passing the most fortified sections of the Maginot Line. The unanticipated invasion placed the German army in a perfect position to cut the Allied forces in half and force the BEF and a large part of the French army against the northern coast of France and ultimately to the port city of Dunkirk. It was a massive blunder on the part of the Allies and if not for the emergency evacuation across the English Channel the Germans would have easily wiped out a huge part of the standing British army.

What was accomplished at Dunkirk by the British navy, air force and hundreds of English civilian's boats is nothing short of miraculous and makes for a fascinating true life story. However I've often wondered if it could have all been avoided with better management of France's defenses.

I'm all about this movie, in spite of the fact that Chris Nolan is directing it.

Just come back from the cinema and thought I'd post while the film is still fresh in my mind. Firstly, the film is very 'spare'. By this I mean that no time or footage is wasted on anything other than the main facts of the situation. There are hundreds of thousands of soldiers on the beaches of Dunkirk and if they are not got off they are going to be decimated. A few of the participants stories are followed in the unfolding drama, but done so with the minimum of dialogue (there isn't really much to say) and with no unnecessary frills. This approach is however all that is needed because quite simply, the events are enough in themselves. The tension is kept on a high rack from start to finish, aided well by a suitably applied musical score. The special effects are spot on, particularly I thought the dog fights. This film I think deserves it's high Rotten Tomatoes rating and is well worth springing the bucks to see on the big screen.

I found Dunkirk to be an engaging and expertly crafted film. Another in a long line of Christopher Nolan projects that feature film making that is unusually intelligent, thoughtful and innovative. I especially appreciated the sometimes non-linear approach to the narrative and the reliance on visuals as opposed to dialog. Excellent film.

There is a mounting noise in the media about the films 'failure' to acknowledge the bravery of Black and Asian soldiers at Dunkirk, with allegations of the film being 'whitewashed' to ignore their place in the history of this monumental event. What bullshit. I just wish this pc media brigade could for once disapear up their own rectums and let a thing just be what it is.

How many black and asian soldiers were there at Dunkirk?

I just came from watching it at the cinema - and it was amazing! Really well done .. and very clever the way they married all the timelines in together.

I thought they enabled the audience to really empathise with the elements of battle, the feelings of vulnerability of not being able to see the enemy - on that did you notice that we never really saw the enemy, that feeling of blindness, then the blindness that was inflicted on the kid wounded, the bind guy handing out towels - the claustrophobic feeling of being bombed in the ship, drowning, desperately trying to get out, to survive, just survive.

"we didn't do anything - just survived"

I loved it - and yes Nolan built the tension very effectively! Oh and I loved the dad - how awesome was that character? Calm and understanding, compassionate, humble .. I wanted him for my dad!

Agreed!

Love the new av aTOMic!

Skyweir wrote:Love the new av aTOMic!

Night King aTOMiC thanks you.

It's good, but I didn't care for the non-linear story telling.

Mark Rylance was excellent as always.

Kenneth Brannagh was woefully under utilized.

I was surprised that some of the soldiers felt they would be ridiculed as failures once they returned to England.

I agree that the best part of the film was the dogfights, but

Spoiler

I didn't understand Farrier's decision to land the plane and be captured by the Germans rather than bailing out and joining the British soldiers.