Saturday, July 22, 2017

DUNKIRK-A MOVIE WORTH SEEING, BUT DID IT MISS THE MARK?

Jenny and I went to see Dunkirk yesterday.  The movie was powerful, and did a more than adequate job of depicting how Britain came together to rescue their stranded troops at the port of Dunkirk.  The timeframe was the beginning of June 1940.  Hitler's Germany had recently invaded and subjugated Poland, with France and Great Britain declaring war on Germany on September 3rd, 1939.  Great Britain had sent over a large expeditionary force of almost 200,000 men and equipment to bolster France's resistance to the Nazi push to take over all of Europe.

The new war technique of Blitzkrieg implemented by German commanders beat the French and the English back to the sea.  By the middle of May 400,000 French and English troops had their backs against the sea at the French port of Dunkirk, completely surrounded by 800,000 Germans, with their artillery and tank regiments at the ready.  It appeared that the entire Franko-English army was going to be wiped out!

Hitler did not think it wise to send tanks and heavy artillery into the marshes of Dunkirk.  He was of the opinion that he would lose too much equipment using that strategy.  Instead, he took the advice of Marshall Goering, and let his Luftwaffe destroy the trapped army.  Goering convinced Hitler that his Air Force would do the job in no time at all.  They did not count on the motivated and feisty English Royal Air Force!

The British people have not yet been told that the situation in Dunkirk is hopeless, but their new Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, is well aware that the war now could be lost!  He has tasked the Royal Navy to rescue as many of their soldiers as they could, and privately thought that if they could get 30,000 of them home they would have done a good job.  He also has tasked the Royal Air Force to back up the effort with as many planes as possible, knowing that the Luftwaffe would be running bombing sorties both on the rescue ships and the men on the beaches of Dunkirk.

By the last week of May 1940, it looked hopeless.  Winston Churchill put out an order to civilians.  The order was that their country needed their boats.  Fishing boats, yachts, coastal runners, anything that floats is needed now to evacuate the troops out of Dunkirk.  Now, the cat is out of the bag, and everyone knows that there is major trouble ahead.

People with their boats came to the rescue, some 700 boats of all kinds in all.  Some making multiple trips to and from Dunkirk to rescue, braving torpedoes and attacks from the sky.  Ships were sunk, lives were lost, but this ragtag fleet got 330,000 soldiers back on English soil by June 4th, 1940.  This ragtag fleet, along with the brave pilots of the Royal Air Force and the Royal Navy, saved Great Britain from total defeat!

This was a great story, and for the most part the movie did an excellent depiction of how Britain came together, and everyday civilians risked life, limb and treasure to come to the rescue.  It also depicted the selflessness of the English sailors and flyers in their efforts to get their soldiers out of Dunkirk.  An amazing effort that anyone watching this movie will be astounded by.

On June 4th, the morale of the British people was in the gutter.  The general population was happy to get their boys back, but the thought was that they were no match for Germany, and that invasion would be coming soon.  A dark malaise descended over the country, and it appeared that their worst fears would soon be realized.

The movie did not focus much on what happened next.  What happened next was incredible!  Their new Prime Minister, Winston Churchill rallied his people with an incredible speech!  The speech put iron in the backbones of every Britain, and rallied them to fight on.  In fact, the speech was most probably the saving grace not only for Great Britain, but for the whole of the Western World!  The movie, on the other hand, did not focus on this turning point, but instead had a rescued soldier grab a paper and read a headline about the speech.  For this reason, I give this movie a B-.

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