Review of Dunkirk (2017) by Alexa M — 23 Jul 2017

I saw "Dunkirk" with my husband at the earliest possible opportunity.

When the movie ended, we nodded that we were leaving before the credits. As we exited, my husband said, "I give this movie a 'B'. Maybe at best a B+".

I was silent, so he filled in the conversational gaps as we walked. He said about how long it took for the movie to get going, about how much eventual action there was (too much) and how so much of the conversation was unintelligible.

After two blocks of walking, I said, "I couldn't comment and I could not stay for the credits because the movie just slayed me emotionally.".

My husband was stunned.

Here is why we had a difference of opinion and such a different experience:

1) We may both be Baby Boomers (and actually, I am almost a decade younger than he), but my father was a WWII vet and my father's parents were both English immigrants to the USA.

2) I was well versed on the Blitz, on the Battle of Britain, on Dunkirk.

3) In fact, as a child, I had to listen to an actual record of Churchill's speeches over and over again. I knew the "We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender" by heart. As a result, I entered the theatre unknowingly having Nolan's frame of reference for all the action-and all the in-action!

4) I got it right away that Mark Rylance's character had served in WWI--and I totally got it why he did not condemn the shell-shocked man who killed an innocent boy. There was a true axis of evil in WWII; there are still few reasons why an entire generation died in the trenches of WWI. The fact that Mark Rylance's character, knowing that, suffered that, picked up and kept going says volumes about Britain's resolve.

5) Knowing the death rate of pilots in WWII in defense of Britain, I so understood the landing on the beach and the blowing up of the plane. Flying in defense was suicidal from the get-go.

6) I knew the "spin" on Dunkirk (plus Winston Churchill's daughter-in-law's sexual powers of persuasion) was key to getting the US involved.

My conclusion? It helps to have had background knowledge before you enter the theatre. "Dunkirk" is not a primer on the Dunkirk evacuation. It is merely an experience of that evacuation.