A Small Movie About a Big Event

My friend Bill Katz at Urgent Agenda asked me what I thought of the film Dunkirk. This is what I told him:

I don't think its possible to understand Dunkirk without seeing director Christopher Nolan's Interstellar, which this science fiction author thinks is the best science fiction movie since 2001. Interstellar is about time, time dilation and space.

Dunkirk is about time and perception and the primal urges within man. 'You can almost see it from here,' says the colonel on the Mole, 'Home'. How does one get home? How does one find safety in a ship when you've just seen ships sunk?

This is not a movie about Whitehall and Admirals pouring over maps and Churchill staying, 'We've got to get our boys home no matter what.' and the Admirals saying, 'It's impossible' and Churchill saying, 'Well find a way.'

It's also a movie about Englishness. Look at all those lines on the beach. Look at all those soldiers queuing patiently.Think French soldiers would be acting that way? No, of course not. Panicky Frenchman fire on an English soldier while another steals a dead Tommy's uniform.

This is an English movie and a lot of Americans might not get it. I'm trying to think of an American war epic that would baffle the Brits...I dunno, Sgt. York? Apocalypse Now?

It certainly was “different,” and disappointing. I expected, or hoped for, a major historical drama, with sweep and the involvement of a nation. Instead, it seemed like an
awfully small movie about an awfully large subject.

That's exactly right.

Dunkirk!?

The esteemed William Katz asked for my thoughts on Dunkirk. Here they are:

It is highly unlikely that I will see Dunkirk in the theater. I have been to the movies exactly three times in the last 12 years, and all were Star Wars. I saw Rogue One twice in 18 hours.

I will say this, and I have probably noted this before.

The Dunkirk miracle is the most British thing to happen in all military history, simply muddling through and improvising the British turned a disaster into a victory.

By the summer Britain had made good her material losses. She was the 3rd greatest industrial power on earth, after all.

Britain never really stood alone, and could draw on Canadian, Australian, Indian and New Zealand forces for help. The later three were crucial in the Med and Middle East theater. The Burma campaign was won by a combo of British and Indian troops, 2 million of the later.

It is extremely unlikely that a German invasion could have succeeded. First there's the Royal Air Force, which the Battle of Britain was begun to destroy. Then there's the Royal Navy, remember them? Crossing a river is hard enough, now try crossing the Channel. of course the Allies did four years later and all it took was a thousand ships and a hundred thousand men, not even counting the invasion force. D-Day was the most complex event in human history. Britain has been conquered four times, by the Romans, the Anglo-Saxons, the Vikings and the Normans. Its been a thousand years.

A cross channel invasion was well nigh impossible and White Hall knew it, which is why the told Adolph where to go.

The most important event in Britain in the 20th century was the battle of the Somme. The second most important event was the War Cabinet meeting just after Dunkirk where Winston told the assembled that he knew they would rather die face down in the street choking in their own blood rather than negotiate with 'that man' as he called Adolph.