Kyle Willis

Justin Prince

HIST - 3333

20 August 2018

Movie Review: Dunkirk

The battle of Dunkirk began May 26th, 1940 and wasn’t over until June 4th, 1940. On the

beaches of Dunkirk about 400,000 British and French soldiers gathered to be evacuated across

the channel back to Britain. In the weeks prior, the German army had invaded France and

marched their way across the country. The allies were in full retreat, they had been overpowered

by the well-trained German Army. The Germans also had full air superiority over the RAF,

Royal Air Force. On May 26th, the British command launch Operation Dynamo, the goal was to

get as much of there army back across the channel to prepare for an invasion of Britain. The

British originally estimated they would be able to save around 30,000 of the troops, by the end of

Dunkirk, they would save over 300,000.

Christopher Nolan, award winning British film director, brings us the movie Dunkirk.

Released in July of 2017, the movie Dunkirk won multiple awards for sound and film editing.

The movie followes multiple storylines that are taking place at the same time. We are first

introduced to a young French solider in the town of Dunkirk as he makes his retreat to the beach.

Next, we are back in England where we see the British Navy reprimanding civilian vessels.

Before the Navy can take one man’s ship though, we watch as him and his son, along with his

1. Grehan, J. (2018). Dunkirk A Day-By-Day Account of the Greatest Evacuation.Havertown: Pen & Sword
Books Limited.
2. Lukits, S. (2017). Dunkirk illusions. Queens Quarterly, 124(4), 526-539.
3. http://collider.com/christopher-nolan-harry-styles-interview-dunkirk-video
son’s friend, take it upon themselves to sail the channel and help. Finally, we are following the

story of a group of British fighter pilots trying to hold off the German Air Force.

The three separate plot lines are confusing at the beginning of the movie, but eventually

you realize all three are building up to intersect in the end. When the movie opens we see a group

of French soldiers in the town of Dunkirk. While walking through the town they come under fire

from German troops, leaving only one French soldier to make it to the beach. In the town is

where we see the first inaccurate representation of history. The scene was filmed in the actual

city of Dunkirk making it more realistic, however, at the time the city would have already been

made into ruble from German air raids 2. The city seems more like a scene out of zombie movie

then a war movie, nothing is destroyed, just signs of military activity. Once our French solider

makes it the beach he must sneak his way on to a British ship. You see British soldiers standing

at the front of the mole, a big pier, telling French soldiers that they would have to wait for their

own ride. While this may have happened, around 123,000 of the rescued soldiers were French1.

Meaning over the 10 days that this event took place everyone was being saved.

The beginning of the next plot line follows an Englishman with two young crewmen who

decide to take it upon themselves to cross the channel and save soldiers. The British Navy

activated the “small vessel fleet” during Operation Dynamo. This is where the Navy would

reprimand civilian ships to use for the operation. It appears in the movie that tons of British

citizens decide to sail themselves across the channel to help. While this did happen, not very

many did, it is estimated that very few of the 700 vessels were civilian captained 1. This is still a

lot and all these men deserved to be commended for their bravery but, most of the civilian ships

that showed up on the beaches of Dunkirk would have been sailed by British officers. At the end

of the movie we see a scene where all the soldiers on the beach are cheering as all the civilian
1. Grehan, J. (2018). Dunkirk A Day-By-Day Account of the Greatest Evacuation.Havertown: Pen & Sword
Books Limited.
2. Lukits, S. (2017). Dunkirk illusions. Queens Quarterly, 124(4), 526-539.
3. http://collider.com/christopher-nolan-harry-styles-interview-dunkirk-video
ships arrive at Dunkirk. While this made for a great dramatic ending to the movie, it is not how it

happened. Soldiers were being saved over a 10 period, meaning there wasn’t one moment where

everyone was instantly saved. Beyond that, most of those saved were via the mole on to British

Navy vessels. Very few would make the journey across the channel in the small ships, mostly,

they were used to ferry people to larger boats.

In the last story line, we follow a group of Royal Air Force pilots over the English

Channel. After losing his other two pilots we are left with the story of a lone pilot. As he gets in

dog fights with German planes we can see another inaccurate part of the movie. The German

planes have yellow painted noses, the Germans did do this, but no until after Dunkirk 1.

Christopher Nolan, the director, acknowledges this flaw and decided to put the planes in like this

make it easier to tell who is who 3. Our pilot also must track his fuel throughout the movie to

make sure he doesn’t run out. This ultimately leads to him having to land on the Dunkirk beach

after saving tons of soldiers from a German bomber. The plane he would have been flying at the

time, a British Spitfire, would have had plenty of fuel for his hour-long story 2.

Overall, the movie Dunkirk was great and thrilling to watch. While they may be a few

historical inaccuracies the visual and sound effect were fantastic. When we first get to the beach

at the beginning of the movie you can feel the fear as the thousands of soldiers suddenly dropped

to the group as they hear German bombers approaching. The entire time we were in the cockpit

of the Spitfire you are sitting on the edge of your seat waiting for him to finally shot down the

other pilot. When the second British pilot is shot down we watch him almost be drowned by his

own plane until he’s saved by our brave Englishman and finally you stop holding your breath.

1. Grehan, J. (2018). Dunkirk A Day-By-Day Account of the Greatest Evacuation.Havertown: Pen & Sword
Books Limited.
2. Lukits, S. (2017). Dunkirk illusions. Queens Quarterly, 124(4), 526-539.
3. http://collider.com/christopher-nolan-harry-styles-interview-dunkirk-video