Dunkirk (2017)

[The Judge]

I've not seen it out on DVD, but I've not been looking for it. I don't know how good it would look on a small screen though. They were certainly making a big thing of shooting it on some kind of special large film stock and saying it was best to see it in a cinema that could cope with it (yep, really showing my cinematic expertise here), not that I've any idea what difference that would make.

 

[The Ace]

I enjoyed it, and in some ways, it brought one aspect to the fore that isn't generally known [Spoiler below]

In the space of an hour. the RAF lost three Spitfires, with one pilot killed, one rescued, and one taken prisoner. To the troops on the beach, the Luftwaffe seemed to be attacking them unopposed, while in actual fact, combat took place inland, and many German aircraft didn't even reach the beaches. The RAF suffered very heavy losses at this time (177 aircraft, 106 of them fighters), including many vital Spitfires (Dunkirk was the first time the Luftwaffe met the Spitfire, and it came as a nasty shock.

 

[HareBrain]

My father was at Dunkirk. He told me about an incident while they were waiting for evacuation that was depicted in the film just as he described it.

This reminded me of something. Mine was also at Dunkirk (he was 51 when I was born), and when we were talking to him about his life ten years ago, he told us he'd fallen asleep near the mole, and had woken up to find all his comrades gone. I haven't seem the film yet, but I heard or read somewhere that this same thing happened to one of the characters in the film. Is that so?

 

[AlexH]

Is Dunkirk out on DVD now then?

It's still on at the cinema.

 

[Susan Boulton]

It's still on at the cinema.

Yep and no sign of it coming out in Bluy Ray or DVD, most things are up for pre-order on Amazon within a couple of weeks of release. I think this one is going to be early next year, if not nearly 12 months, before it is available.

And yes, I have seen it and enjoyed it.

 

[The Judge]

This reminded me of something. Mine was also at Dunkirk (he was 51 when I was born), and when we were talking to him about his life ten years ago, he told us he'd fallen asleep near the mole, and had woken up to find all his comrades gone. I haven't seem the film yet, but I heard or read somewhere that this same thing happened to one of the characters in the film. Is that so?

I can't recall seeing anything of the kind, and I'm pretty sure it doesn't happen to the three men the story focuses on as representing the ordinary soldiers.

 

[Caledfwlch]

I enjoyed it, and in some ways, it brought one aspect to the fore that isn't generally known [Spoiler below]

In the space of an hour. the RAF lost three Spitfires, with one pilot killed, one rescued, and one taken prisoner. To the troops on the beach, the Luftwaffe seemed to be attacking them unopposed, while in actual fact, combat took place inland, and many German aircraft didn't even reach the beaches. The RAF suffered very heavy losses at this time (177 aircraft, 106 of them fighters), including many vital Spitfires (Dunkirk was the first time the Luftwaffe met the Spitfire, and it came as a nasty shock.

I saw a documentary about this not sure it is a spoiler given its world history, but I shall spoiler it.

It was awful how much credibility the RAF lost with the Army that day, purely based on a misunderstanding - it's not just that the RAF were actually further inland doing a fantastic job of keeping the Luftwaffe and other forces away from Dunkirk, they were apparantly battling the Luftwaffe over Dunkirk itself, it's just that the dogfights were taking place really high up, so the Tommies on the beach simply didn't see them.

It's surprising there's only a couple of films about Dunkirk - it's one of those historical events that reads more like a boys own adventure from an old comic, or kids novel, yet really happened - hundreds of civilians sailing out to rescue our boys from France, absolutely amazing.

 

[Susan Boulton]

It's surprising there's only a couple of films about Dunkirk - it's one of those historical events that reads more like a boys own adventure from an old comic, or kids novel, yet really happened - hundreds of civilians sailing out to rescue our boys from France, absolutely amazing.

If you get a chance, watch the film, "Their Finest." Very, "Ealing Studios", in its tone and themes, yet it captures a lot about the time it is set in, and it is a film about filming a film about Dunkirk... And the heroine is Welsh

 

[The Judge]

Yes, well worth a look. Her accent wavers a bit, and I'd have trimmed some of the more self-indulgent scenes, but a cleverly-put together film with some very good performances and tremendous lines, and the Dunkirk-film-within-the-film is itself surprisingly moving.

 

[Caledfwlch]

Their finest looks interesting! Big fan of Bill Nighy too

It's a little frustrating though, that the predominantly London based Media don't appear to understand that there are several Welsh Accents, and that a person from Bangor in Gwynedd say sounds dramatically different to a person from Cardiff, but always in film and tv especially when its a non Welsh person putting on the accent, it is always, a Valleys accent from South Wales, with the occasional diversion to the Swansea accent.

Even when a character is supposed to be from, or the film/show is even allegedly set in North or Mid Wales, everyone has valleys accents. To get an idea of what a Gog (North Walian) sounds like, look on youtube for interviews with Rhys Ifans, it is radically different to the Southern Accents, and the Mid Wales accents too are different to both again. And in Pembrokeshire to the South, around Haverfordwest they actually speak with a West Country English Accent!

 

[AlexH]

Their finest looks interesting! Big fan of Bill Nighy too

It's a little frustrating though, that the predominantly London based Media don't appear to understand that there are several Welsh Accents, and that a person from Bangor in Gwynedd say sounds dramatically different to a person from Cardiff, but always in film and tv especially when its a non Welsh person putting on the accent, it is always, a Valleys accent from South Wales, with the occasional diversion to the Swansea accent.

Even when a character is supposed to be from, or the film/show is even allegedly set in North or Mid Wales, everyone has valleys accents. To get an idea of what a Gog (North Walian) sounds like, look on youtube for interviews with Rhys Ifans, it is radically different to the Southern Accents, and the Mid Wales accents too are different to both again. And in Pembrokeshire to the South, around Haverfordwest they actually speak with a West Country English Accent!

Have you seen Locke? I'm wondering where that Welsh accent could be placed (if anywhere). It sounds Hungarian at times! It's an excellent film though - starring Tom Hardy, also of Dunkirk.

 

[Caledfwlch]

Have you seen Locke? I'm wondering where that Welsh accent could be placed (if anywhere). It sounds Hungarian at times! It's an excellent film though - starring Tom Hardy, also of Dunkirk.

i haven't seen it, but just watched some clips. Dear God, Mr Hardy is normally a decent actor, but his "Welsh" accent - what on earth?
It's very vaguely Valleys, but it keeps jumping around, and it doesn't feel authentic, not just the unusual take on a Welsh accent, but because he isn't speaking with the rhythm or dialect of a Welsh person, especially a Valleys one.

A good example of how we speak English differently is one that used to drive my ex Fiance, and everyone I knew whilst living up in Yorkshire with her crazy, as for some reason the English mindset cannot seem to deal with the concept.
She, for example, if I stayed up after she had gone off to bed would shout "Babes, when you coming up? you said 5 mins!"
My Reply "I'l be there Now in a Minute, Cariad"
her always without fail shouting even louder "Seriously Babes, WTF does now in a minute even mean ffs??? it makes no sense, your weird!"

Apparantly only a Welsh Brain can understand the concept of now in a minute.

 

[AlexH]

i haven't seen it, but just watched some clips. Dear God, Mr Hardy is normally a decent actor, but his "Welsh" accent - what on earth?
It's very vaguely Valleys, but it keeps jumping around, and it doesn't feel authentic, not just the unusual take on a Welsh accent, but because he isn't speaking with the rhythm or dialect of a Welsh person, especially a Valleys one.

It took me a while to figure out he was even meant to be Welsh - at first I thought he was playing someone Central or Eastern Europe. He is superb in the film though, I wouldn't say his accent is a slight on his acting. I struggled to understand him in The Revenant at times, and another film - I can't think which. At least I could tell what he was saying in Locke.

There are a fair few colloquialisms where I live. Like "I aren't" instead of "I'm not" - that makes perfect sense, but always annoys one of my friends who isn't from around here.

 

[WaylanderToo]

If you get a chance, watch the film, "Their Finest." Very, "Ealing Studios", in its tone and themes, yet it captures a lot about the time it is set in, and it is a film about filming a film about Dunkirk... And the heroine is Welsh

Agreed - watched this on the flight home from my hols yesterday. Loved it

 

[Radrook]

A cynic writes: everything looks fantastic in the latest Dunkirk trailer, but I can't help wondering where the twists and turns of the story are going to come from. Army evacuates from beach under attack from aircraft, and some make it off, some don't -- that's about it. You don't have much of a strategy element, but neither does it seem strongly focused on the stories of a few minor players. It seems to me to follow the rules of the modern blockbuster in that the drama is all in the explosions.

Maybe they will delve on the reasons why Hitler hesitated ad infuse more drama into it that way.

 

[Caledfwlch]

It might be better to have far less focus on the lads fighting to escape, and instead focus on the brave ordinary men and women who sailed their boats across the channel to rescue "our lads" The "Little Ships" did an amazing thing, all 850 of them, sailing into a War Zone.

 

[Venusian Broon]

It might be better to have far less focus on the lads fighting to escape, and instead focus on the brave ordinary men and women who sailed their boats across the channel to rescue "our lads" The "Little Ships" did an amazing thing, all 850 of them, sailing into a War Zone.

You must have been watching a different film then - a whole thread of the story was for the experiences of a civilian skipper and crew.

And yes of course, there were a few civilians that bravely took it upon themselves to join in as the character played by Mark Rylance portrayed, but the myth that a lot of civilians took part has been debunked by the Association of Dunkirk Little Ships themselves. By far the vast majority of the 850 little ships (at least 94% from memory, can't find the source) were commissioned and crewed by Royal Navy personal.

"The Mrs. Miniver story of owners jumping into their Little Ships and rushing off to Dunkirk is a myth. Very few owners took their own vessels, apart from fishermen and one or two others. The whole Operation was very carefully co-ordinated and records exist of most of the Little Ships and other larger vessels that went to Dunkirk." From History of The Association of Dunkirk Little Ships | Association of Dunkirk Little Ships.

In this respect the films focus on the three armed services contributions, as well as also making the civilian element prominent, seems fitting to the level of sacrifices made by everyone.

 

[Brian G Turner]

Just watched Dunkirk and really enjoyed it. The way tension was maintained throughout was really well done. And the structure of following 3 different storylines taking place over 3 different time frames - converging, meeting, then moving away - was really, really clever.

Good to see a war film that focuses on the human story. Even the kids sat through it, which was positive.

EDIT: PS, I didn't notice any CGI! For once in a film.

 

[The Judge]

I didn't notice any CGI! For once in a film.

Possibly because they used very little of it. Apparently, he went out of his way to re-use old cinematic techniques, eg painting on glass for the rows of soldiers waiting to leave the beach (find a trailer of The Finest and you'll see it's more effective than it sounds). I think he also used cardboard models for soldiers and vehicles in the distance -- I do recall reading that he had bits of metal (?foil?) attached to them, which caught the light, giving the impression of movement which CGI doesn't always do.

 

[MontyCircus]

Here's my Criticker mini-review:

"Billed as a "thrilling" war epic. This has no thrills and is shorter than the rom-com I just saw. It's practically a silent film (I hate them), with the soundtrack being the hum of plane engines and the crashing of waves. There are no characters, I'm not sure anyone in the film is named. No German faces are seen. In the film credits I assume everyone is named "Earnest Brit #1", "Earnest Brit #2". There is no humour. The lines that do exist are all garbled and unintelligible. Disappointment."

And to make matters even worse, historians say it greatly exaggerates the extent of the whole "average Joes with sailboat rescued all the troops" angle...which is the entire point of the film. So for me, it neither entertained nor informed. Double fail.