Genre – War Movie (based on true stories)
Time : 1 Hour , 42 minutes
Platform : Amazon Prime – rent. Jio Hotstar – free
Writer Director : Christopher Nolan
Fact : The German blitzkrieg of May 1940 left the French and British forces stunned and reeling . Finally, about 450,000 of them were squeezed in a pocket around the city of Dunkirk. British civil and naval ships set forth from England and rescued about 350,000 British and French troops between May 26 and June 4, 1940.while about 100,000 French and British troops who held the perimeter became German POWs , for the rest of the war. The Royal Air Force fought desperate battles over Dunkirk, which were largely unseen by the troops being battered by German airstrikes and artillery. The Navy lost ships but continued to evacuate troops . Winston Churchill, famously said about the evacuation, code named Operation Dynamo ; “wars are not won by evacuation” but in this case the troops definitely lived to fight for another day and time.
Film: Getting ANY kind of focused story is next to impossible in such a story with a large canvas and multiple action focal points. Yet , the scripty cleverly focuses on :
- Tommy (Fionn Whitehead) , a soldier who has abandoned his unit and equipment, just wants to survive and return “home”.
- Mr Dawson (Mark Rylance) , owner of a boat who sets forth from England , with his son and son’s runaway friend, to rescue as many of the stranded soldiers as he can.
- An unnamed panic-stricken soldier (Cillian Murphy), who is the first rescue of Dawson.
- Two British pilots, fighting Germans over the beaches, clearing the air, codenamed Fortis 1 – Farrier (Tom Hardy) and Fortis 2 – Collins (Jack Lowden – famous these days in the Slow Horses series)
- Commander Bolton (Kenneth Branagh) who is struggling to keep the boats and men off the beaches and on their way to England
The beaches, ships, soldiers are subject to heavy air attacks and artillery bombardment. Tommy does every trick in the book to get himself safely on board a ship ; he does so thrice and each time his ship is sunk under him , till he is finally rescued by Mr. Dawson.
While the above summary looks very neat and linear, the film – as with most Christopher Nolan films – is hardly so . We see the same action from multiple points which over the period of time appears confusing as the same action repeats itself.
The three Spitfires of Fortis Flight, consisting of Fortis Leader , voiced by Michael Caine (who is Nolan’s favorite actor), and their actions over an hour are shown . The trio engage German Me109 fighters. Leader goes missing. Fortis one and two then engage fighters and a He111 bomber , which destroys a British naval minesweeper . Fortis one is shot down and saved by Dawson. Fortis two with last of his fuel and bullets , downs a Stuka bomber over the beaches and finally does a ‘dead stick’ landing on the beach, to be captured by the Germans.
The same action is intercut with Mr. Dawson, saving a soldier, saving lives from the minesweeper and heading back to England.
The most ‘confusing’ must surely belong to Tommy as he watches all these actions, is involved in the sinking in the harbor, a hospital ship and finally the minesweeper.
If there are any ‘bravery’ stories they are invisible as it clearly becomes a game of survival. Tommy symbolizes the ordinary British soldier , generally known as Tommy, as he goes from one disaster to another . It may be repetitive as a cinematic device and sound incredible or funny depending on one’s perspective, but his actions hardly are funny as he single-mindedly committed to only surviving.
All these viewpoints are intercut in various ways and angles that can and does leave one confused . (Only halfway through the movie I understood that this is Nolan at his best – and also at his worst, taxing my brain cells 😊 ).
This is a superb film that deserves a truly huge screen. End credits make it clear that some Dunkirk survivors were extensively interviewed to get their perspectives and this shows onscreen ; there is hardly any jingoism – its all about survival. Surviving civilian craft that took part in the evacuation and three surviving Spitfires were also used, leading to unparalleled authenticity.
War is hell and Nolan shows it as such.
Historical Background – 5 out of 5
Script – 4 out of 5
Story – 4 out of 5
Direction – 4 out of 5
Photography – 4 out of 5
Total – 4.2 out of 5
Hi Rammesh,
Another outstanding review! You have prompted me to go back and watch the film again.
Perhaps we can have a longer discussion off-line, but Hitler’s decision to order a halt was ‘The Pause That Saved Their Lives’ – 350,000 British/French troops. Though, he had good reasons to order this pause.
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Dunkirk is perhaps one of the great ‘what-ifs’ of WW 2 history, at least in the European Theatre of Operations. A defeat at Dunkirk, the slaughter (or enslavement) of such a vast army would have too many ramifications to be discussed here… (America not entering, or at least delaying is entry, being one of the major ones?)
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Such a parallel is found in more recent history? Saddam Hussain eschewing the invasion of eastern Saudi Arabia (Dharan and other petrochemical infrastructure), after gobbling up Kuwait in 1990. He too had his reasons, but in hindsight, a terrible blunder?
There’s books on this topic! The Famous What-Ifs of Military History.
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Regards,
Robin
Two reasons for the great pause.
1. Logistics – supplies to catch up but Rommel was chafing and wanted to continue. The OKW said otherwise.
2. Goering’s bombast that “My Luftwaffe will destroy them” proved to be a hollow statement (like many others by him) , but not for the troops below who remembered only the German attacks and not the British fighters fighting on top.
3. The “WHAT IF” of WW2 books is an industry by itself :)
KVR