Part I

Review a movie related to any topic in the syllabus. Word Range

(500-1000 Words)

DUNKIRK
Release date: 21 July 2017 (UK & US)
Director: Christopher Nolan
In May 1940, during World War II, Germany advanced into France, trapping Allied troops on
the beaches of Dunkirk. Under air and ground cover
from British and French forces, troops were steadily
and methodically evacuated from the beach using
every serviceable naval and civilian vessel that
could be found. At the end of this heroic mission,
333,000 French, British, Belgian and Dutch soldiers
were safely evacuated. The time period is between
May 26th to June 4th 1940.
The movie is a historical war based with different
elements and timeline blended with each other in
such a way that makes the viewer understand every
other time period and perspective during World War II.
The movie is divided into 3 parts.

The Mole - One Week

A British soldier, Tommy, is scavenging the abandoned streets of Dunkirk when he comes
under German fire and barely manages to escape to the Allied perimeter on the beach. Here,
he sees another soldier burying someone, presumably a soldier as well and proceeds to give
a helping hand. The two then join the long lines of soldiers waiting to be ferried off.
They see an opportunity to board a ship which was about to depart the Mole, by taking an
injured soldier to skip the long queue but only the
injured soldier is allowed to board. However, they
manage to hide under the mole where they wait for the
next ship, but it arrives to be bombed. In this hubbub,
they manage to rescue a soldier, Alex.
3 of them sneak on to another departing boat which is
eventually sunk by a torpedo. Gibson manages to save
both Tommy and Alex in time and they make it to shore.
The 3 of them then join some Scottish soldiers.
They find an abandoned fishing trawler and seek
refuge, hoping for the tide to come and take them
away. However, the boat is used as target practice
by the Germans and all the bullet holes make it
difficult for the vessel to stay afloat once the
tide rises. The ship needs to get rid of extra
weight to make it out to sea. Then, Alex accuses
Gibson of being a German spy as he's awkwardly
silent till this point, and urges him to get off.
Tommy defends Gibson, reminding him that he saved their
lives earlier. But Gibson reveals himself to be a French
soldier who took dead soldier’s British uniform he had
buried before. In all this, the boat begins to sink as the
soldiers rescue themselves but Gibson gets stuck in a
chain and drowns.
The Sea - One Day
The Royal Navy begins taking over private boats in an effort to rescue the soldiers. Mr.
Dawson chooses to take his own ship with his son Peter and their young helper, George
instead of allowing naval officers to take charge. Not long after, their boat comes across
a sunken British vessel, where they find a rattled soldier and take him aboard. But he
eventually realizes that they're sailing away from British shores and upon hearing they're
going back to Dunkirk, the soldier loses his composure, and tries to take control of the
boat. This chaos leads to George falling to the bottom of the boat and hitting his head.
However, Mr. Dawson decides that they have come too far to turn back and seek help for
him.

The Air - One Hour

3 Spitfire pilots- Farrier, Collins and their squadron leader
fly over the sea to provide air support to the troops. However,
squadron leader is shot down. Farrier's fuel gauge is broken in
the dogfight, so he does his best to preserve fuel and take the
enemy down. Collins' plane is shot down and crashes into the
sea. He's unable to exit the cockpit as water
begins pouring but is rescued by Mr. Dowson and
he brings Collins onboard.
At this point, the three narratives begin to
overlap with each other.
Tommy, Alex and the soldiers spot a minesweeper
and head toward it until it is hit by one of the
German bombers. Oil spills into the water and the
soldiers swimming are covered in it. It gets ignited and several
soldiers are burned alive. Farrier manages to shoot down the bomber as
he runs out of fuel. Mr. Dawson pulls Tommy, Alex, and a few other men
onto his boat. Alex finds out George is dead and informs the Dawsons. Farrier lands his
plane by the shore and sets it on fire but is soon captured by German soldiers. Following
the rescue, Dawsons return home and Peter takes a picture of George to the local newspaper
so that he is remembered as a hero. Back in Dunkirk, Bolton and Winnant note that over
300,000 men were rescued when they planned only to save 30,000. Bolton decides to stay
behind to make sure that French can also be evacuated. Tommy, Alex and the British
soldiers are sent back to Britain but Alex is afraid to go home as he thinks they have
disappointed everyone due to their failure to win the war. He sees a newspaper with
Winston Churchill’s message and Tommy reads that they were appreciated for their valour
and efforts, as a man approaches the window and hands them beers. Civilians welcome the
soldiers back with applause.
Christopher Nolan is largely bloodless but extremely harrowing war epic movie that he has
ever made It is hard to imagine a better tribute to this victory of survival and is
technically awe-inspiring, narratively inventive and thematically complex. Pleasure in
this film is equal parts in its visuals and in its construction. I would definitely
recommend any of my friends who are History enthusiastic as the narrative of Dunkirk is
relatively straightforward, but it makes the viewer feel the
emotions felt by the
soldiers. The film focuses on
a week, a day, and an hour
during World War II, with
space and time closing in on
the characters, at the end.
Despite its time-bending
structure, Dunkirk manages to
be crystal clear without many
words and masterful visual
storytelling.
As a history student, I would
probably give 4.5/5 stars for its beautiful visuals and great
movement of story with intervening different elements.
 Part II
B. Analyse the poems written by soldiers during the world wars to know about the
conditions on the battlefield.
Nationalism was a prominent force in early 20th century Europe and a significant cause of
World War I. Nationalism is the loyalty to one’s country. Nationalism was an intense form
of patriotism. Those with nationalist tendencies celebrated the culture and achievements
of their own country and placed their interests above
those of other nations.

THE SOLDIER
"The Soldier" is a poem by Rupert Brooke written during
the First year of the First World War (1914). Brooke
was remembered as a ‘war poet’ who inspired
patriotism in the early phase of the First World
War. It is a deeply patriotic and idealistic poem that
expressed a soldier's love for his homeland—in this case England, which is portrayed as a
kind of nurturing paradise. It is an example of the dangers of romanticizing World War I,
comforting the survivors but downplaying the grim reality. This piece could almost be
considered a piece of propaganda as it appears to “spin” negatives into positives. When
"The Soldier" was written, the bodies of servicemen were not regularly brought back to
their homeland but buried nearby where they had died.
In World War I, this produced vast graveyards of
British soldiers in "foreign fields”. Writing at the
start of the war, Brooke prefigured the vast numbers of
soldiers whose bodies, torn to shreds or buried by
shellfire, would remain buried and unknown as a result
of the methods of fighting that war. The poem also
makes great use of patriotic language: it is not any
dead soldier, but an "English" one, written at a time
when to be English was considered (by the English) as the greatest thing to be. The
soldier in the poem is considering his own death but is neither horrified nor regretful.
Rather than lamenting the notion of his own demise, he claims that it will mean there is a
piece of England in that foreign country. So, this explains that in some ways his death
would be a victory. Other theme, Nationalism could be seen as the poet believed that the
earth would be enriched by his dead body because his body was made from dirt born in
England. He even presents forward the vivid description of England and shows gratitude
towards it. Religion is central to the second half of "The Soldier," expressing the idea
that the soldier will awake in a heaven as a redeeming feature for his death in war.
Brooke’s poem is among the last great ideals before the true horror of modern mechanized
warfare was made clear to the world.

After the early war movements in the late summer of 1914, artillery and machine guns
forced the armies on the Western Front to dig trenches to protect themselves. The trench
experience involved the terror of mud, slime and disease and the constant threat of
shellfire. Heavy artillery and new weapons such as poison gas threatened death from afar.
Soldiers went through such terrible times that no one could ever imagine.
Anthem for Doomed Youth
What passing-bells for these who die as cattle?
— Only the monstrous anger of the guns.
Only the stuttering rifles' rapid rattle
Can patter out their hasty orisons.
No mockeries now for them; no prayers nor bells;
Nor any voice of mourning save the choirs, —
The shrill, demented choirs of wailing shells;
And bugles calling for them from sad shires.

What candles may be held to speed them all?

Not in the hands of boys, but in their eyes
Shall shine the holy glimmers of goodbyes.
The pallor of girls' brows shall be their pall;
Their flowers the tenderness of patient minds,
And each slow dusk a drawing-down of blinds.
"Anthem for Doomed Youth" was written by British poet, Wilfred Owen in 1917, while he was
in the hospital recovering from injuries and trauma resulting from his military service
during World War I.
The poem laments the loss of young life in war and describes the sensory horrors of
combat. It takes particular issue with the official
pomp and ceremony that surrounds war (gestured to by
the word "Anthem" in the title), arguing that church
bells, prayers, and choirs are inadequate tributes
to the realities of war. The poem explains that men
are disposable and their deaths are merely part of
the price of war. The poem’s very first line
suggests that during such wars, these men were like
farmed animals(“cattle”), brought into life only
to grow big enough for their own slaughter.
Furthermore, the poem makes no attempt to glorify
war or paint these men as heroic or noble. It
doesn’t say that they were not such things, but
instead makes clear that these traits—heroism and
nobility—are rendered practically irrelevant by the sheer brutality of the conflict.
Moreover, most of the men who die in such conflict would never be honoured with rituals
like ringing of bells, collective prayer, choir singing, the draping of coffins, etc
anyway They were not granted the rituals and rites of good Christian civilians back home.
They did not get real prayers, only rifle fire. Their only "choirs" are of shells and
bugles. The reason behind this was that there were too many fallen soldiers. This focuses
on violent, featuring weapons and harsh noises of war. It also implies the impact of these
guns on the mental consciousness on the soldiers where the sound of the guns was
“monstrous” enough to destroy their innocence. It clearly portrays the impact of war on
the mental psyche of the soldiers for the war could destroy their life which inevitably
becomes a certainty to the end of war for the decease soldiers or rather wait for the
uncertain duration of war which was not in their “hands”. Lastly, it also focuses on the
devastation of war on the family members. The line “The pallor of girls' brows shall be
their pall “explains such. It reflects that the soldiers are not
only affected by war but the family members also get affected by
it. The poem also evokes the death of innocence on the faces of
soldiers whose “flowers the tenderness of patient minds” wait
for the uncertain death in the battlefield and the “slow dusk”
or the passage of time clearly becomes certain for the inevitable
death of the soldiers in a “drawing-down of blinds” symbolizes
the engulfment of darkness or the closing of their eyes.

Both World War I and World War II had a great impact on soldiers
‘psychological and mental state. The uncertainty, the pressure,
the anxiety and the despair made them apathetic and it completely
changed their lives.