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Dunkirk (Spoilers)


DMC

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Saw it yesterday.  I thought it was just OK, and I really wanted to love it.

II'm a little surprised actually to see people characterize it as tense and engaging, because save a few scenes, I think that's my biggest complaint about it.  It just didn't ever really grab me.

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4 hours ago, Sword of Doom said:

I'm not sure how him making the movie he wanted negates any of the criticisms of the film I have put forth regarding the White washing of the film or the lack of acknowledgement of the french. Im aware of the film he wanted to make. I take issue with it.  A bit more dialogue could have addressed the french and what they were doing and would allow him to stay with the points of view he wanted. People of color being in the back drop could have helped it not being white washed the way it was. 

I think this is a fair critique.  I visited my parents last week and my mom, being a librarian, had a copy of Joshua Levine's Dunkirk.  He was the historical advisor on the film, and at the beginning of the book he has an interview with Nolan.  I mention all of this because I can't link to what I'm about to say, and this is based on my faulty memory from reading it in print.

Anyway, throughout the interview Nolan is quick to point out that one thing he wanted to emphasize was the perspective of the characters.  Specifically, he wanted to extend to the audience how it would have been for a kid to show up at the mole and have no idea what was going on.  I think, in that sense, it's not particularly strange that the characters on the beach we follow would congregate with other Englishman.

My other defense would be, yes, Nolan clearly wanted to make an English pride movie.  Is that so bad?  It may not be PC, but including the racist aspects would have obviously put a damper on that, as @Mexal articulated (better than I).  For comparison's sake, let's look at Saving Private Ryan.  I'm currently scrolling through the cast on IMDB, and while it's a reminder of how awesome cast was, I don't see a (non-Jew) minority before I hit "See full cast."

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10 hours ago, Channel4s-JonSnow said:

But as I said WW2 features the Nazis and Hitler, it's hard to really say many good things about those guys.


To be fair, I don't think the point ever is that the Axis weren't the worst, but that the Allies had their own horrors that shouldn't be ignored. I mean, they had fucking Stalin in their side for one, but even Britain and the US weren't exactly fighting clean-handed.

This film isn't the one to talk about those moments, though. That's just not what it was doing.

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  • 4 months later...

It was fantastic.

I think many people (like myself) may need to view it twice to adequately absorb that they are following 3 timelines within one major event.

Anyways i'm not even British and have had critical views of Chamberlain in the past, but this left me feeling and understanding the pride and patriotism of a people answering the call to rally for a homeland. In that sense I got a S.P.Ryan vibe from it, or in GOT's parlance I remembered Lady Mormont's "Answering the call/KITN" speech. The movie really worked on that level for me. 

I viewed it the first time with my (American) parents (my idea) and was impressed at how well versed they were with the events, half way through they were filling me in with some of the history, I had no idea they would have even known that history.

 You knew you were watching something that had an impact on a generation. At the end of the movie my mother was saying, "You can barely even imagine it, unless you lived through it." She of course hadnt been there, but must of often tried to imagine what something like that was like because her own father had lost a leg to a landmine in the Battle of the Bulge.

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  • 3 weeks later...

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