Posted on 07/26/2017 12:10:06 PM PDT by Thistooshallpass9
Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk opened last Friday to massive crowds and rave reviews. By the end of the weekend, the movie had grossed more than $100 million worldwide; $24 of which came from my wife and me. Dunkirk, in my opinion, is an entertaining film and a fine diversion, but entirely underwhelming and a missed opportunity.
Dunkirk is everything you’d expect from 21st-century Hollywood. There’s plenty of action, some epic panoramas, and more than one plotline crafted to tug the heartstrings. Add in (another) superb score from Hans Zimmer, and Dunkirk is everything Hollywood tells us we want. But although it is viscerally stimulating, Dunkirk lacks depth, meaning and substance. There’s no historical context, nothing to stimulate or challenge the intellect, nothing meaningful to take away. For a film so obviously connected to an explicit historical event, there is a surprising dearth of history. May 1940 was arguably the most important month of World War ii, one that included other momentous developments. Yet Dunkirk somehow fails to explore the broader significance of the rescue of more than 330,000 Allied soldiers, and it fails to convey, even faintly, the colossal stakes of Operation Dynamo for Britain, France, Germany and, indeed, humanity.
The biggest disappointment, and the least surprising, was the failure to highlight the miracles that surrounded Operation Dynamo. For me, Dunkirk ranks in the top five on the list of Britain’s all-time greatest miracles. The most incredible facet of Dunkirk doesn’t relate to one event. Rather, it’s the fact that three highly unlikely events converged at exactly the right time.
First, there was the bizarre decision by Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt to halt the advance of German panzer tanks when they were less than 10 miles from the defenseless British and French forces. Seventy-five years have passed and historians are still debating the rationale behind this decision. Whatever the field marshal was thinking, the two-day recess allowed French and British forces to make crucial improvements to their perimeter defenses. And when the tanks fired back up, these hasty improvements were enough to hold back the Germans. But it wasn’t just the engines on Rundstedt’s tanks that unexpectedly went quiet.
So did the English Channel. For nine days, this capricious and often-dangerous sea passage went, to borrow a phrase from Britain’s English Heritage website, “unusually calm.” The Daily Telegraph wrote on July 8, 1940, “Those who are accustomed to the Channel testify to the strangeness of this calm; they are deeply impressed by the phenomenon of nature by which it became possible for tiny craft to go back and forth in safety” (emphasis added).
If that isn’t fodder for an epic scene, what is?
Finally, as the English Channel turned “millpond flat,” the skies above Flanders erupted. For more than a day, torrential rain and low-hanging clouds grounded the German Air Force.
“I have talked to officers and men who have gotten safely back to England, and all of them tell of these two phenomena,” continued the Daily Telegraph article. “The first was the great storm which broke over Flanders on Tuesday, May 28, and the other was the great calm which settled on the English Channel during the days following.”
Imagine it: Between May 24 and June 4, not one, but three extremely unlikely events converged to allow the successful evacuation of 338,000 soldiers and the survival of Britain. Let’s say you’re from Oklahoma. This would be like learning you’d inherited $1 million, receiving an invitation to dine with President Donald Trump at the White House, and watching the Oklahoma City Thunder win an NBA Championship—all in the same week. That’s what happened in Dunkirk in May 1940.
Imagine the intellectual and emotional experience that the creativity and resources of Christopher Nolan could have created, if he only valued the history enough to communicate it honestly. Imagine if Nolan studied the history of Dunkirk for the lessons it actually furnishes, and not the lessons he wants it to furnish. It’s true; Dunkirk is a dramatic story about bravery and sacrifice and having hope even when circumstances seem hopeless. But far more than that, Dunkirk is about the miraculous convergence of three extremely unlikely events, and the Being who orchestrated that convergence. Forget Harry Styles, God is the protagonist of Dunkirk.
But why would God intervene like this? There are a few answers, one of which can again be found in the historical record. England’s king responded to the dire situation by calling for a day of national prayer on May 26. Across the nation, British citizens, the Church of England, the Catholic Church, Jews and other religions appealed to God for help. The King and Queen attended a service at Westminster Abby, along with Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands, and the prime minister and other British leaders.
“In the cities and towns, leaders of civic life attended church on this Day of National Prayer at the head of their people,” the Times wrote. “From peaceful village churches in the remote countryside the same prayers were offered, just as in these fateful hours the same thoughts are in people’s minds.” Afterward, the archbishop of Canterbury called on everyone to pause at noon every day and pray for deliverance.
Imagine an entire nation, millions of people, simultaneously beseeching God for deliverance. What a scene that would be! Now imagine if Christopher Nolan not only depicted this national day of prayer, but also connected it with the miracles that began to unfold on the Channel and in the port of Dunkirk. Think about it: What if Christopher Nolan had reflected historical reality and actually made God the protagonist of Dunkirk?
Now that’s the Dunkirk movie I really want to watch.
The missing visual is the actual number of troops that were ushered off the beach. From the camera view it looks like a division at most, not an Army.
God was on the side of the righteous.
And, He still is.
As I said elsewhere - and and all references to God were curiously missing from the movie. Even the opening card talks about the soldiers hoping for a miracle - not praying for a miracle - hoping for one.)
Nolan didn’t want to make a movie about miracles or God but some odd humanitarian statement which doesn’t come through and, apparently, he ignored historical fact that was more interesting to tell a story that wasn’t because it didn’t jive with the story he wanted to tell.
Documentaries don’t usually do that well. I love documentaries. I’m also an amateur WWII historian. I am looking forward to seeing this movie on blue ray when it comes out (I don’t do theaters any more), but don’t expect much accuracy, historically speaking. It’s not really a documentary. It’s not its function. It is entertainment with a good story (and subplots) BASED ON history.
It’s about managing your expectations.
Well they wouldn’t have all been standing on the beach at the same time. The British are expert queuers but that would be ridiculous.
If that was the case, they would have been riding in boats on the Rhine going into Germany.
Attributing events to God opens a very sticky theological paradox.
I just watched this doc-——VERY interesting——on Netflix- about WWII .
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five_Came_Back_(TV_series)
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Don’t forget, those soldiers were essential to the defense of Britain.
If they had not made it home the Germans would have had an excellent chance of conquering Great Britain. It was a near thing anyway, with only the RAF standing in the way.
That would have left the Germans with a single front war against Russia.
Russia would have fallen.
North Africa and the Middle East would have fallen.
I think what people are missing is the scope of the story being told. Nolan was very much NOT telling the big story of Dunkirk. He was telling the SMALL story of Dunkirk, 3 people’s stories. The story of someone trying to get out. The story of someone trying to help because it’s his job (the pilot), and the story of someone trying to help because it’s his duty (the boat owner). All these wishes for a large version of the story, including worrying about supposed miracles, are just not getting it. This wasn’t The Longest Day, it is very deliberately NOT an epic. That movie got made in 1958, anybody wanting a Dunkirk epic should find that.
Not really. They were only about 10% of Britain’s fighting force. Much more important to the defense of England was the navy and air force, which is why Churchill didn’t put large quantities of them at risk to rescue the soldiers. Keeping the Germans from landing (or as it turned out even trying) was much more important than turning it into a fight once they did land.
I thought the same thing. In the age of CGI, Nolan wouldn’t even need more extras to convey the enormity of the evacuation.
Unless you get it for free from the library don’t waste your time. Visuals were good but that is it.if you don’t know the background history it will not mean much.
Nolan deliberately did not use CGI. He wanted to go totally real life, even his ships are real, I believe French Frigate made up to pass for Tribal Class DDs, like the USS Newport News became the Graf Spee in 1956 Battle of the River Plate.
Any serious study of WWII clearly evidences MANY such miracles as these three PROVING both the existence and mercy of God in His sovereign execution of a victory over evil. WWII miracles are from the very beginning to the very end.
Someone loving history should do a compilation of all the miracles.....
bfl
We shouldn’t be surprised when God intervenes. History is His Story.
The amazing parallel I see here is Washington’s retreat from Brooklyn Heights in August 1776. (this is from a Geological Society of America presentation in 2006) at URL: https://web.mst.edu/~rogersda/umrcourses/ge342/Washington’s%20Escape%20from%20Brooklyn-Oct24-2006.pdf
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After the British landed 10,00 troops, sneaked up on the Colonials in a two mile long column on August 27th and caught them with their pants down. The British lost 63 killed and 337 wounded and missing, while the Americans lost about 970 men killed, wounded or missing, and 1,079 taken captive. The Continental Army had lost almost a quarter of their entire strength.
Reeling from the American’s embarrassing and lopsided defeat, Washington realized that he was now trapped between General Howe’s forces and Lord Howe’s fleet.
He had split his troops between Manhattan and Long Island, with the Hudson River, East River, and Long Island Sound all controlled by British warships.
Admiral Richard Howe, the brother of General Howe, could cut off Washington’s forces if he moved his ships from the New Jersey Shore to from the New Jersey Shore to the East River.
The mile wide channel was Washington’s only possible path of retreat.
Though threatened, the American position provided topographic screening of Brooklyn Ferry by enemy forces
Rain, lightning, thunder and vicious winds Rain, lightning, thunder and vicious winds continued intermittently throughout August 29th.
The poor weather forestalled further attacks by the British, and Howe’s forces busied themselves digging approaches towards the American positions. That evening it began raining again, but with an unusual northeast breeze unusual northeast breeze. The mile wide route across Brooklyn Ferry used by Glover’s men to ferry 9000 troops in one evening.
The entire retreat was carried out in strict silence. By this time the sky had cleared and the moon was shinning brightly. British forces were close enough to see all the American defenders, but none of the British
sentries noticed anything unusual!
When first light appeared, the evacuation of 9,000 American troops was far from complete, the oarsmen needed at least three more hours. The soldiers occupying the front line trenches and huddled along the beach worried that they would be spotted or left behind.
Then, rising out of the wet ground and off the East River came a dense fog, and the fog covered Brooklyn side of the river. When the sun rose the miraculous fog did not lift!
The entire Army was extracted, except for the heaviest caliber canon. Washington took the last boat across, just as the fog was lifting.
It was seen as a miracle by the troops and providential by Washington. 9000 men had been saved from certain capture or destruction, and the saved from certain capture or destruction, and the American cause preserved.
The British were astonished. When the British advanced on the American positions When the British advanced on the American positions around 11 AM they could hardly believe their eyes. There in the brilliant sunlight was the abandoned American in the brilliant sunlight was the abandoned American fortifications and camp fortifications and camp totally deserted!
Some of the British soldiers ran down to the shore and shot at the last of the departing boats, but the Americans were safely out of range. Washington’s army had escaped their grasps to fight another day.
The unusual combination of darkness, fog, the northeast wind blowing down the East River immobilized Admiral Howe’s fleet and blinded British sentries.
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Bottom line, they could have been slaughtered and the revolution would have died in its cradle, but...things turned out differently, as we know!
Look at some old photographs. They might not ALL have been on the beach, but it must have seemed like it. There were huge ques of soldiers waiting to get on the bigger ships. Surprising that even more weren’t killed minutes from rescue.
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