The missing visual is the actual number of troops that were ushered off the beach. From the camera view it looks like a division at most, not an Army.
God was on the side of the righteous.
As I said elsewhere - and and all references to God were curiously missing from the movie. Even the opening card talks about the soldiers hoping for a miracle - not praying for a miracle - hoping for one.)
Nolan didn’t want to make a movie about miracles or God but some odd humanitarian statement which doesn’t come through and, apparently, he ignored historical fact that was more interesting to tell a story that wasn’t because it didn’t jive with the story he wanted to tell.
Documentaries don’t usually do that well. I love documentaries. I’m also an amateur WWII historian. I am looking forward to seeing this movie on blue ray when it comes out (I don’t do theaters any more), but don’t expect much accuracy, historically speaking. It’s not really a documentary. It’s not its function. It is entertainment with a good story (and subplots) BASED ON history.
It’s about managing your expectations.
Don’t forget, those soldiers were essential to the defense of Britain.
If they had not made it home the Germans would have had an excellent chance of conquering Great Britain. It was a near thing anyway, with only the RAF standing in the way.
That would have left the Germans with a single front war against Russia.
Russia would have fallen.
North Africa and the Middle East would have fallen.
I think what people are missing is the scope of the story being told. Nolan was very much NOT telling the big story of Dunkirk. He was telling the SMALL story of Dunkirk, 3 people’s stories. The story of someone trying to get out. The story of someone trying to help because it’s his job (the pilot), and the story of someone trying to help because it’s his duty (the boat owner). All these wishes for a large version of the story, including worrying about supposed miracles, are just not getting it. This wasn’t The Longest Day, it is very deliberately NOT an epic. That movie got made in 1958, anybody wanting a Dunkirk epic should find that.
Any serious study of WWII clearly evidences MANY such miracles as these three PROVING both the existence and mercy of God in His sovereign execution of a victory over evil. WWII miracles are from the very beginning to the very end.
Someone loving history should do a compilation of all the miracles.....
bfl
The amazing parallel I see here is Washington’s retreat from Brooklyn Heights in August 1776. (this is from a Geological Society of America presentation in 2006) at URL: https://web.mst.edu/~rogersda/umrcourses/ge342/Washington’s%20Escape%20from%20Brooklyn-Oct24-2006.pdf
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After the British landed 10,00 troops, sneaked up on the Colonials in a two mile long column on August 27th and caught them with their pants down. The British lost 63 killed and 337 wounded and missing, while the Americans lost about 970 men killed, wounded or missing, and 1,079 taken captive. The Continental Army had lost almost a quarter of their entire strength.
Reeling from the American’s embarrassing and lopsided defeat, Washington realized that he was now trapped between General Howe’s forces and Lord Howe’s fleet.
He had split his troops between Manhattan and Long Island, with the Hudson River, East River, and Long Island Sound all controlled by British warships.
Admiral Richard Howe, the brother of General Howe, could cut off Washington’s forces if he moved his ships from the New Jersey Shore to from the New Jersey Shore to the East River.
The mile wide channel was Washington’s only possible path of retreat.
Though threatened, the American position provided topographic screening of Brooklyn Ferry by enemy forces
Rain, lightning, thunder and vicious winds Rain, lightning, thunder and vicious winds continued intermittently throughout August 29th.
The poor weather forestalled further attacks by the British, and Howe’s forces busied themselves digging approaches towards the American positions. That evening it began raining again, but with an unusual northeast breeze unusual northeast breeze. The mile wide route across Brooklyn Ferry used by Glover’s men to ferry 9000 troops in one evening.
The entire retreat was carried out in strict silence. By this time the sky had cleared and the moon was shinning brightly. British forces were close enough to see all the American defenders, but none of the British
sentries noticed anything unusual!
When first light appeared, the evacuation of 9,000 American troops was far from complete, the oarsmen needed at least three more hours. The soldiers occupying the front line trenches and huddled along the beach worried that they would be spotted or left behind.
Then, rising out of the wet ground and off the East River came a dense fog, and the fog covered Brooklyn side of the river. When the sun rose the miraculous fog did not lift!
The entire Army was extracted, except for the heaviest caliber canon. Washington took the last boat across, just as the fog was lifting.
It was seen as a miracle by the troops and providential by Washington. 9000 men had been saved from certain capture or destruction, and the saved from certain capture or destruction, and the American cause preserved.
The British were astonished. When the British advanced on the American positions When the British advanced on the American positions around 11 AM they could hardly believe their eyes. There in the brilliant sunlight was the abandoned American in the brilliant sunlight was the abandoned American fortifications and camp fortifications and camp totally deserted!
Some of the British soldiers ran down to the shore and shot at the last of the departing boats, but the Americans were safely out of range. Washington’s army had escaped their grasps to fight another day.
The unusual combination of darkness, fog, the northeast wind blowing down the East River immobilized Admiral Howe’s fleet and blinded British sentries.
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Bottom line, they could have been slaughtered and the revolution would have died in its cradle, but...things turned out differently, as we know!
Maybe Nolan didn’t want the movie to preach a heavy-handed sermon. If he shorted the Divine interventions, that’s probably unfortunate. It would have added a deliciously supernatural element to the story. But I can see not wanting to focus on that.
The extended scenes of the out of fuel Spitfire gliding along in the air for miles and miles - even shooting down a Junkers J88 while gliding!!!! was the final straw for me.
What a ridiculous waste of time and money this crapfest was