Dunkirk–the Movie

Jul 31, 2017

I just saw the movie “Dunkirk”. If you have not seen it yet, go. Go now–before it leaves the silver screen and you are forced to watch it on DVD. You need to see it on a very large screen because the cinematography is just so incredible. You actually feel like you are in a dogfight between a Spitfire and a Messerschmidt. You actually feel like you are with the soldiers and sailors as their ship is hit with torpedoes and is keeling over and killing thousands.

Of course, the film is about the real evacualtion of 330,000 British soldiers and about 130,000 French, Belgian, and Dutch soldiers in late May and early June of 1940. The German army had completely surrounded the Allies and it looked like the end was near. It really honestly looked like the end of civilization. In fact, if you had been an impartial observer back then, you would have had to conclude that the evil empire of the Nazis were going to extinguish Western Civilization and conquer the world. They looked that unstoppable.

Christopher Nolan, the director, masterfully plays with your mind and creates a feeling of utter hopelessness and doom: You constantly hear in the background one of two things–either the ticking of a clock (illustrating that time is running out) or the faint scream of a German warplane as it begins its dive upon helpless soldiers and sailors.

I looked at some background info on the film. Those scenes on the beach? Well, they were filmed on the ACTUAL beach at Dunkirk! And those little fishing boats, trawlers, yachts, and ferries that came to the rescue? Ha! Some of them in the film were actually at the real rescue at Dunkirk 77 years ago! No kidding! They have been perfectly preserved all these years and brought out just for the movie!

You need to see the movie. Especially bring the kids (about age 12 and up would be good). I do not remember hearing a single cuss word. It is riveting, intense, and action packed, AND……it teaches real history (something kids don’t get too much of these days).

You’ll leave the theatre saying “God save the king!” and singing a line or two from “Rule Brittania!”