Dunkirk

Saw "Dunkirk" yesterday at a local IMax theater (no, not owned by Apple). It is the story of the evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) from France at the beginning of World War II. It is a big film with not a lot of dialogue  (nor women). But I was actually a little disappointed given the hype it has received. I was expecting a Cecil B. DeMille epic and got a Jennie Craig reduced-down version. Everything seemed too thin. Not enough soldiers on the beach. I expected 300,000. I got maybe 3,000. Not enough airplanes. I expected hundreds. I got maybe a dozen. Not enough small English rescue boats. I expected thousands. I got maybe a dozen. But what was there was very well done ... authentic and convincing.

Also, the Diplomad blog has a very interesting review of this film along with a number of comments which both add and detract from the art and history of this important film ... see: Brexit, 1940. Accordingly, the upsides are the cinematography and aerial combat. The downsides are the lack of a historical perspective, the poor character development, and the singular perspective.

On the singular perspective ... to fully tell a story like this you would need to cover it from 100 angles ... which is impossible to do in one book or in one movie. The best one can hope for is one or two highly polished facets through which to look at this pivotal point in World War II. This movie does do that and so should be seen. But you won't leave the theater loving war or the Germans.