No sooner have they had a moment to glance at these surrender summons than gunfire erupts from an unknown source. “Dunkirk” opens with several British infantrymen sauntering down a road inside the Dunkirk city limits as the Luftwaffe showers them with propaganda leaflets. Along with the RAF, the courageous Royal Navy and the Small Boat Owners emerge as the heroes who rescued the BEF waiting anxiously on the beach. Notably, the RAF preferred to confine their resources largely to the island in preparation for the inevitable Battle of Britain, later made into the exemplary film “Battle of Britain” (1969). This 107-minute movie boils down to a series of survival episodes that occurred at Dunkirk. Instead, we see neither German tanks nor troops storming through France and Belgium. Something like this might have given “Dunkirk” greater dramatic gravity. The cold-hearted SS crowded these prisoners into a stable, tossed in stick-grenades, and then finished them off with bursts of machine gun fire. Adolf Hitler’s Waffen-SS soldiers slaughtered as many as 80 British soldiers along with some French POWs. “Dunkirk” doesn’t recreate historic battlefield combat, not even the infamous Wormhoudt Massacre. So, if you’re looking for something like “The Longest Day” (1962), “Battle of the Bulge” (1965), “Anzio” (1968), “A Bridge Too Far” (1977), “Saving Private Ryan” (1998), and “Hacksaw Ridge” (2016), prepare to be disappointed. “Dunkirk” was produced for $100-million, and likely millions went to publicity. Presumably, the “Dark Knight” filmmaker didn’t want to overwhelm himself with an ambitious battle extravaganza. Of course, much, much more occurred at Dunkirk than just the wholesale evacuation. Instead, “Dunkirk” confines itself strictly to the evacuation of the British Expeditionary Forces (B.E.F.) in three segments: one on land covering one week, one on sea covering one day, and one in the air covering one hour. In fact, the only Germans in “Dunkirk” are either flying aircraft (so cannot see them) or show up as infantry from unknown units. You won’t see German Panzer Corps careening through Belgium and plowing into France. Traditional armchair generals should know Christopher Nolan’s World War II epic “Dunkirk” has little to do with the battle of Dunkirk.
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