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'We were at Dunkirk, too' say French furious at being written out of film epic
ibtimes.co.uk ^ | July 22, 2017 13:11 BST | Isabelle Gerretsen

Posted on 07/22/2017 9:06:51 AM PDT by BenLurkin

Around 30,000 French troops held back Nazi divisions near the city of Lille to protect their allies during the evacuation code-named Operation Dynamo.

Renowned French film critic Jacques Mandelbaum called Nolan "witheringly impolite" and slammed the director's "deplorable indifference" towards his country's contribution to the epic evacuation.

"Where in the film are the 120,000 French soldiers who were also evacuated from Dunkirk? Where are the 40,000 who sacrificed themselves to defend the city against a superior enemy in weaponry and numbers?" he asked in his review in French newspaper Le Monde.

(Excerpt) Read more at ibtimes.co.uk ...


TOPICS: Military/Veterans; TV/Movies
KEYWORDS: dunkirk; france; frenchtroops; hollywood; militaryhistory; moviereview
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To: ExGeeEye

Would you recommend it?


201 posted on 07/22/2017 8:46:07 PM PDT by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either satire or opinion. Or both.)
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To: KC_Lion
The ill-prepared French did indeed play a roll at Dunkirk.

They sacrificed many men due to their earlier stupidity but held the reluctant Germans off the Dunkirk area so, yes, Frogs, thanks for your roll.

Many thousands were evacuated by the British but the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) would not even have been on the mainland of Europe in the first place had the French taken proper steps in men, material and leadership up until 1940.

So, Frogs, cry (croak) if you will about an excellent film that hits home the honest truth about your ineptitude.

202 posted on 07/22/2017 9:02:28 PM PDT by Netz ( and looking for a way ti IMPROVE mankind.)
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To: LS

You wrote:
Despite a $150m budget you do NOT “see it on screen.” Looks like there are maybe 50,000 guys waiting to load, rather than 400,000. The most planes you see at a time are three Spitfires. When the civilian rescue fleet appears, it looks like maybe 30 boats instead of the hundreds that actually arrived.

The whole point of cinema is not necessarily to “wow” you with CGI effects where one “sees” 300,000 actual individual men lining up on the beach. This is the American style - no good story but plenty of boom, boom, boom replete with explosions, cars flipping, lots of robots (or Godzilla) destroying Manhattan (again, flipped cars) or fantasy films with advanced civilizations dressing up like Roman warriors.

No, this is not a typical war film where the hero shoots 5,000 Germans or Japanese without reloading his magazine.

Nolan has actually taken a story as seen from 3 main perspectives, land, sea and air.

I thought it was brilliant, well photographed, scored to excellent music and of course good acting about an amazing story. I too had high expectations and they were all met.

So maybe give Nolan some credit on the epic film?


203 posted on 07/22/2017 9:11:47 PM PDT by Netz ( and looking for a way ti IMPROVE mankind.)
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To: BenLurkin

Superb film...go see it.


204 posted on 07/22/2017 9:16:06 PM PDT by Netz ( and looking for a way ti IMPROVE mankind.)
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To: Netz

Didn’t like it. Neither did my two friends. I know exactly what Nolan was trying to do. He wasn’t successful in my opinion. Glad you liked it.


205 posted on 07/22/2017 10:03:51 PM PDT by LS ("Castles Made of Sand, Fall in the Sea . . . Eventually" (Hendrix))
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To: weston

Hacksaw is excellent.


206 posted on 07/22/2017 10:04:44 PM PDT by LS ("Castles Made of Sand, Fall in the Sea . . . Eventually" (Hendrix))
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To: BenLurkin

Yes.

It won’t spoon feed you the story. you have to think about it.

It’s three stories, interleaved. Thing is...

Story One is a week long.

Story Two is a day long.

Story three is an hour long.

They all begin to be told from the start. So some events are seen two, even three times from different perspectives.

They all come together to end at the end, though one ends in Belgium and the other two in England.

If you’re willing to think about it, and keep it straight in your head, you’ll be OK.


207 posted on 07/22/2017 10:37:14 PM PDT by ExGeeEye (For dark is the suede that mows like a harvest.)
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To: Eric in the Ozarks

Another one who didn’t see it, or ignored the reference to Churchill at the end.

His “We will fight on the beaches” speech read out of the newspaper by a rescued soldier.

This film was not about Churchill. For that, see “The Darkest Hour” this November.


208 posted on 07/22/2017 10:40:11 PM PDT by ExGeeEye (For dark is the suede that mows like a harvest.)
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To: Churchillspirit
Perhaps you can answer something:

In the movie, most of the English civilian boats are shown flying flags that are mostly red, with the Union Jack as a canton.

The one boat that is it's own story, picking up the shell-shock victim, the pilot, and the oil-covered survivors, flies a flag that is mostly blue with the Union Jack canton.

Is there a reason for this?

209 posted on 07/22/2017 10:54:25 PM PDT by ExGeeEye (For dark is the suede that mows like a harvest.)
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To: spintreebob

You missed the story structure.

Story one, on the beach, was a week long.

Story two, on the boat, was a day long.

Story three, the air battle, was an hour long.

Which is why you can see the Dutch trawler sinking next to the minesweeper in one scene, and the soldiers climbing aboard the rounded trawler on the beach in the next, and why the bobing of the inesweeper is seen three times.


210 posted on 07/22/2017 11:03:03 PM PDT by ExGeeEye (For dark is the suede that mows like a harvest.)
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To: ExGeeEye

*grounded

=beached at high tide


211 posted on 07/22/2017 11:07:14 PM PDT by ExGeeEye (For dark is the suede that mows like a harvest.)
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To: LS

OK, that’s fine I just think in terms of cinematography and tension throughout the film. If a film, any film, affects your gut and creates sweaty palms, ti has done it’s job IMHO. Any Hans Zimmer musical score will be well done.


212 posted on 07/22/2017 11:07:52 PM PDT by Netz ( and looking for a way ti IMPROVE mankind.)
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To: ExGeeEye

Not Belgium, France.


213 posted on 07/22/2017 11:39:27 PM PDT by ExGeeEye (For dark is the suede that mows like a harvest.)
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To: ExGeeEye

It’s a bit complicated, but basically - the red ensign - or duster - is flown by civilian craft. The blue ensign can only be flown when officers of a certain rank are aboard.


214 posted on 07/22/2017 11:47:23 PM PDT by Churchillspirit (9/11/2001 and 9/11/2012: NEVER FORGET.)
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To: Churchillspirit

Thanks. Raises another question, but I won’t trouble you.


215 posted on 07/22/2017 11:48:35 PM PDT by ExGeeEye (For dark is the suede that mows like a harvest.)
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To: ExGeeEye

Go ahead.....


216 posted on 07/22/2017 11:52:24 PM PDT by Churchillspirit (9/11/2001 and 9/11/2012: NEVER FORGET.)
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To: Churchillspirit

Unless the civilian driving the boat with his son and the other teen was a retired officer of the appropriate rank, why is he flying the blue version?

Or maybe that is the answer.


217 posted on 07/23/2017 2:06:57 AM PDT by ExGeeEye (For dark is the suede that mows like a harvest.)
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To: BenLurkin

They distracted the Germans by surrendering.


218 posted on 07/23/2017 2:21:52 AM PDT by ZULU (DUMP THAT POS PAUL RYAN!! KIM FATTY the THIRD = Kim Jung Un)
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To: ExGeeEye

There’s an obvious hole in the Dunkirk story without a single clip of Mr. Churchill.


219 posted on 07/23/2017 4:33:37 AM PDT by Eric in the Ozarks (Baseball players, gangsters and musicians are remembered. But journalists are forgotten.)
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To: Netz

Didn’t do any of those to us. Boring and Zimmer’s score was annoying.


220 posted on 07/23/2017 5:24:01 AM PDT by LS ("Castles Made of Sand, Fall in the Sea . . . Eventually" (Hendrix))
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