Probably a dumb question: Spoiler When all those guys were in the bottom of the ship toward the end and it was being shot at, who was shooting at them exactly? The German ground troops were gone. They said something about someone using the ship as target practice.
Not a dumb question at all. I couldn't figure it out either. They never answered it either and I still don't know.
Spoiler: Spoiler I think it was Germans that just didn't know what they had. Throughout the battle, the lines became very confused and the Germans could have thought the area was cleared when it clearly was not.
I just took it as a "fog of war" thing. Spoiler like Cilian Murphy pushing the kid, lots of people die in the most random ways during war
Did not pick up on this while watching Dunkirk (2017) is the seventh film between Christopher Nolan and Michael Caine after Batman Begins (2005), The Prestige (2006), The Dark Knight (2008), Inception (2010), The Dark Knight Rises (2012) and Interstellar (2014). Caine appears in an uncredited voice cameo, he's the voice on the radio talking to a Royal Air Force officer early in the film. Nolan confirmed this in an interview with Stephen Whitty of NJ.com.
Spoiler I think I remember them saying that they were with the boat was outside the British lines and that the Germans "could be right over that hill".
Spoiler and later, the Admiral sees their boat floating out to see while its taking fire. The admiral stated "they're here" or something to that effect.
It took me back to the 60s when he played an RAF fighter pilot in the movie, the Battle of Britain. It's an awesome movie if you're into WW2 movies and really has some great cinematography of the aerial dogfights. A lot of the footage is recycled from different angles but it does a good job of showing the desperation of the war at that point.
I enjoyed the movie, but it wasn't as good as I was expecting. I really wished they would have done a little more to set the stage of the historical context. The Battle of France was such a disaster. The Germans blitzkrieged their way through France, taking the entire country in less than a month, destroying the Allied Army and cornering what was left of it against the sea. The troops were totally over-matched in terms of numbers, technology, and strategy. Coming off of WWI's trench warfare, the Blitzkrieg was unprecedented. Those troops on the beach who had run for their lives witnessing the slaughter must have felt so helpless, exhausted, and terrified. The Germans could have broken the Panzers through the line at any time and wiped out the Allied army, ending the War in 1940. I think a lot of the historical significance, emotion, and the extent of how miraculous the evacuation was was lost on the viewer. My wife, who isn't the documentary junkie like most of us, had never heard of Dunkirk, and her only knowledge of the Battle of France was that Hitler took a picture in Paris with the Eiffel Tower in the background. She was lost during the movie. She had no idea that the Germans had killed a half million and captured 2 million allies in the last few weeks, and that the loss of the 400,000 on the beach would have probably ended for the allies. She had no idea that 350,000 or so of the 400,000 were successfully evacuated. She didn't understand what the mole was, and why people were just lining up on it waiting to die.
The viewer definitely needs to understand the backstory but I am glad as hell they kept it to two hours rather than drag it out unnecessarily. That being said, they tell you they saved 350K or so.
Drove about 45 minutes to see it in 70 mm only for them to tell me the 70 mm projector broke the night before. Such bullshit.
I thought all 70 mm IMAX theaters were projected onto a "science dome"...but now I don't think that's correct. Someone help me out here.
what made the battle of france so shocking is that the allies really weren't outclassed by the germans at that point in the war. the effectiveness of blitzkrieg belied how limited the german army was at that point. in terms of doctrine, germany was a full generation ahead of france, which still languished in the attrition mentality of World War I (ironic given the allies essentially pioneered blitzkrieg tactics in the 100 days offensive which broke germany's back in 1918), but in terms of materiel and manpower, france was first rate in 1940. In fact, they were widely considered to have the finest military in the world at the time. however, they suffered from serious morale problems. defeatism plagued many french units, and officers did little to help matters. moreover, they suffered from several glaring deficiencies, reflective of the bunker mentality with which the army departed world war I. tanks and planes lacked radios, severely limiting france's ability to coordinate quickly on the battlefield (a weakness blitzkrieg ruthlessly exploited). they also had a largely obsolescent air force which was little match for the luftwaffe but they should have been more than a match for the wehrmacht in 1940. the reason germany was so successful was the total surprise achieved by manstein's sichelschnitt. but what has always really stood out to me about the battle was what a massive gambit it was by germany. the german army at that point had enough ammo for maybe two months of warfare. in other words, if the ardennes thrust didn't achieve total surprise and the allies were able to blunt the german offensive (not a shocking outcome given the combined firepower of the british and french armies), the german war effort may very well have flatlined in the summer of 1940. hoping to see this sometime this week. know dialogue is sparse, but i hope they emphasize just how stunning the success of the evacuation was. britain was hoping to rescue something like 60,000 men, and that was considered optimistic.
I enjoyed it but it's definitely not Nolan's best film like some critics/posters on here have been claiming.
I wouldn't put it in his top 3. That's more a reflection on how many incredible movies Nolan has made than Dunkirk not being great. It's still a great movie.
I think Interstellar might be my favorite. I know it's not everyone's cup of tea, but I fucking love anything space related. The Prestige would be my close second, even though it's a better film.
It's interesting to me how it just kind of hops into the foray. Not a whole bunch of lead up nor much on the back end. It feels a lot like The Longest Day in that we got what appeared to be something of a 24-48 hour period and it's events though the full evacuation took place over about a week. There were some people at work who saw it and asked me about the backstory. They remarked it felt a lot like a docu-drama without it being one. They are not familiar with WW2.
Wasn't what I was expecting, but I enjoyed it. The way Nolan intertwined the air, sea and land scenes was innovative and great. Also, to the poster above that wished Nolan had done more to provide context to the battle - Spoiler I thought the opening scene was subtle, but effective in providing context. Soldiers desperate for water running from the Germans, getting shot in the back, not even able to stop to take a shit.. Regarding the unknown bullets hitting the stranded boat, I thought that was effective in demonstrating the psychological effect of war.. are Germans shooting at them? Is it target practice? Are they just trying to make sure the boat won't be able to float? We never find out, but neither did the guys in the boat.
Saw it today in IMAX. Thought it was fantastic. As others have said the intensity throughout the film is amazing and really brings out a wide range of emotions. The ending with the Churchill speech gave me chills, "in God's good time, the New World, with all its power and might, steps forth to the rescue and the liberation of the old."
Still haven't gotten to see it but just walked past a theater as it ended and one of the old guys walking out said, "not a lot of dialog in that damn thing." Had to laugh.
Saw it last night (70mm non-imax, as there aren't any near me) and thought it was great, though I don't understand why Nolan can't get better at sound mixing so his films' dialogue is more easily comprehended. The film's actual sound was incredible but the dialogue was somewhat tough to hear. There were a lot of Thin Red Line parallels to me in that this film showed a lot of the fear, dread, paralysis, etc. and even boredom of war. Between the ticking, the unnerving scenes (pilot drowning, people scrambling to get off boats that were sinking, etc.), that movie was stressful as hell. I want to see it again so I better understand how Cillian Murphy kept popping up in the story but everything else made sense on the first viewing.
Wife surprised me with tickets to imax at 10 this morning...very excited since it's also reserved seating
I think I enjoyed the first screening in the theater as much as his other movies. 2 years from now on my coach it isn't one of the top.
He's said in a few interviews he thinks audiences rely too much on dialogue to understand what's going on. Making the dialogue harder to hear at times in this and Interstellar was deliberate.
saw it twice last weekend. it's really good and I'm not sure any other directors could have pulled together the separate storylines like nolan did. one of the things i liked most was that it sustained a sort of history from below approach that gave the perspective of individual soldiers and civilians without needing to frame the story into a wider historical context. i know some people had an issue with this, but i like the fact that nolan doesn't bother explaining historical background info that five minutes of google research could provide. it allows the film to maintain a consistent tone and really provides a sense of how chaotic and terrifying that situation was for the individuals involved. the raf, royal navy, and natural defense provided by the channel probably would have been enough to stave off invasion regardless, but june 1940 wasn't far off from being a death knell for the allied war effort
Just saw in IMAX. Went to a war movie and still jumped like a bitch at the 1st shot fired. Damn he can tell a hell of a story, and it's a hell of a story to tell.
saw it on 70mm imax in Ft. Lauderdale. When the shots rang out at the beginning I thought I was legit getting shot at. Movie was outstanding
I avoided this thread like the plague to avoid any risk of a spoiler. I've been looking forward to this movie since it was announced. I majored in business at IU but my passion was and always will be history. I received a minor in History and was slightly obsessed with WWII for years. Nolan is my favorite modern filmmaker and it's not even close, I had very high expectations for this movie. I was completely blown away, one of if not the best movie I've ever watched in a theatre. I was riveted from start to finish, I could have sat there and watched 8 hours without moving. I welled up a couple times, without spoiling anything, the last scene with Tom Hardy got me good. I'm hoping this is the start of a trilogy or more of Nolan movies about WW2.