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Dunkirk (2017)


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 What did people think about this film?  There has been some controversy about this historical accuracy and the representations made in the film.  Particularly in regards to the role of the French army and also the ethnicity of the French and British Armies. I thought it was a very good film although I don't know much about the detail in terms of the actual history.   I have bought the relevant issue of the BBC History Magazine and intend to read up on it. I wasn't very keen on the Winston Churchill quote at the end  for some reason that I can't put my finger on but I can see why it was put in. 

 On the other hand, Nigel Farage has suggested that all "youngsters" should watch this film and that has made me like the film slightly less! 

 I watched it on the big screen at Leicester Square.  Visually I thought it was very good. What do other people think?

 

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Once again the commonwealth soldiers are missing..what a shame.

Rugby Union the only game in the world were the spectators handle the ball more than the players.

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It was an entertaining enough action film, and as such (and not a documentary) it has some license as long as there aren't major outright inaccuracies.

If Farage sees Britain running away from a stronger European competitor and relying on the US to ride to the rescue as a great thing then watch and learn young folks, especially the bit where they take our jet technology as part of the quid pro quo for helping us. 

"I am the avenging angel; I come with wings unfurled, I come with claws extended from halfway round the world. I am the God Almighty, I am the howling wind. I care not for your family; I care not for your kin. I come in search of terror, though terror is my own; I come in search of vengeance for crimes and crimes unknown. I care not for your children, I care not for your wives, I care not for your country, I care not for your lives." - (c) Jim Boyes - "The Avenging Angel"

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I was prepped to go and watch this, and then my better half saw the Farage recommendation and we agreed not to bother. Probably churlish.

I can confirm 30+ less sales for Scotland vs Italy at Workington, after this afternoons test purchase for the Tonga match, £7.50 is extremely reasonable, however a £2.50 'delivery' fee for a walk in purchase is beyond taking the mickey, good luck with that, it's cheaper on the telly.

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18 minutes ago, Just Browny said:

I was prepped to go and watch this, and then my better half saw the Farage recommendation and we agreed not to bother. Probably churlish.

Farage was expensively educated. It doesn't mean he learned anything.

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 not a bad film but too far fetched for me.tom shoots down loads a planes an hour after switching to reserve, and the orderly lines a soldiers waiting for the boats to come in dident look right. first 10 minutes of private ryan beats the whole film hands down..

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8 minutes ago, Wiltshire Rhino said:

I enjoyed it!

 

And I say that because I enjoyed it not because Nige told me too. To not watch a film, or do something you enjoy, because you might agree with someone, whose politics or opinion are different to yours, is a bit sad!

Where Farage is concerned not agreeing with his opinions is the tip of the iceberg. I doubt whether he has really put people off

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1 hour ago, Tongs ya bas said:

Where Farage is concerned not agreeing with his opinions is the tip of the iceberg. I doubt whether he has really put people off

There was a lovely response to Farage's Tweet recommending the movie, along the lines of "Mr Farage, my grandfather was at Dunkirk, and also advised on the film. And he thinks you're a c###".

Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

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3 hours ago, silverback said:

and the orderly lines a soldiers waiting for the boats to come in dident look right. first 10 minutes of private ryan beats the whole film hands down..

If you look at the archive footage it's spot on - except obviously there were a few hundred thousand more lining up in an orderly fashion in real life. As an ex-serviceman of more recent vintage I can confirm that Britain still leads the world in combat queuing.....

FWIW I think if you take the best bits and splice them with the best bits of the 1958 version you get as close to what happened as we're going to. I'm glad it wasn't like the first ten minutes of SPR frankly - if it had been then we wouldn't have close to getting as many off as we did. The whole point was that for whatever reason the Wehrmacht failed properly to push home their advantage.

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3 hours ago, iffleyox said:

If you look at the archive footage it's spot on - except obviously there were a few hundred thousand more lining up in an orderly fashion in real life. As an ex-serviceman of more recent vintage I can confirm that Britain still leads the world in combat queuing.....

FWIW I think if you take the best bits and splice them with the best bits of the 1958 version you get as close to what happened as we're going to. I'm glad it wasn't like the first ten minutes of SPR frankly - if it had been then we wouldn't have close to getting as many off as we did. The whole point was that for whatever reason the Wehrmacht failed properly to push home their advantage.

One reason was the Highland Division fighting like hell to cover the rear. They were 'sacrificed' (not as in killed, as in 'knew they weren't getting out') to help ensure the maximum numbers got returned to Britain.

When the Allies broke out from the Normandy landings, Monty sent them (the 'new' HD) to clear out all the coastal towns where they had 'fallen' covering the rear. It wasn't 'glamorous' and they didn't enjoy it, they just got on and did it.

 

 

Rethymno Rugby League Appreciation Society

Founder (and, so far, only) member.

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The story of the dunkirk evacuation, what lead to it, and what the consequences were is hugely complex. It goes well beyond squaddies forming orderly queues in the shallows, and the 'little ships', although the idea and image of both were propaganda masterpieces, and neither telling nowhere near the story. So making a film and calling it 'Dunkirk'  for the second time in fifty years is bound to fall short historically. 

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9 hours ago, Johnoco said:

Lets hope Nige turns up at the CC final with a Hull KR scarf to really kick things of on here.

I'd pay to see that. Although he's the sort of bore you find sounding off about the good old days of amateur Rugby (Union) in the bar at Old Fartonians.

"I am the avenging angel; I come with wings unfurled, I come with claws extended from halfway round the world. I am the God Almighty, I am the howling wind. I care not for your family; I care not for your kin. I come in search of terror, though terror is my own; I come in search of vengeance for crimes and crimes unknown. I care not for your children, I care not for your wives, I care not for your country, I care not for your lives." - (c) Jim Boyes - "The Avenging Angel"

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An old workmate of mine was there. He was in the rearguard that held the Germans at bay while other troops got off. For that he was a POW for 5 years.

He could make your hair curl with the stories he told. One I'll never forget. Earlier on his unit was stationed in Belgium but they had to retreat almost as soon as they got there.  His unit was delegated to help the REME guys set up an important river bridge for demolition. The Germans were infiltrating with Belgian refugees and picking off the sappers. His unit ended up firing over the heads of the refugees to drive them back.

This worked for a while but they ended up shooting into the refugees to clear the bridge.

When the sappers had finished placing the charges  and had fallen back the firing stopped and the crowds rushed back onto the bridge. At that point they blew the bridge up.

He reckoned 100's were killed.

You don't see things like that in Hollywood films.

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First wife's grandfather was in the Black Watch and taken prisoner at Dunkirk also.  Marched all the way to Poland and into the bag for the remainder of the war.  As if that wasn't enough, when he demobbed he became a tax collector.  In Glasgow.  When he'd had enough of that came down to Leeds to collect debts for the diamond merchants.

Not a man to be taken lightly, despite his small stature.

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2 hours ago, CanaBull said:

First wife's grandfather was in the Black Watch and taken prisoner at Dunkirk also.  Marched all the way to Poland and into the bag for the remainder of the war.  As if that wasn't enough, when he demobbed he became a tax collector.  In Glasgow.  When he'd had enough of that came down to Leeds to collect debts for the diamond merchants.

Not a man to be taken lightly, despite his small stature.

My ex-workmate was also marched all the way to Poland when he was eventually taken prisoner.

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As we are telling stories about WW2 my grandfather was in Fleet Air Arm and was in a three ship convoy through the Mediterranean to Ceylon (now Sri Lanka).. One of the three ships were sunk by the Italians. Luckily he was on one of the other two ships. Despite that afterwards he never kicked off every time he went past a branch of Carluccio's ! 

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I thought it was a decent film. It doesn't really try to tell the story of Dunkirk, it focusses on individual attempts at escape.

One of the criticisms I had was that if you didn't have a good grasp of the film and only went because of Harry Styles, you wouldn't really understand what the whole point was.

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19 minutes ago, Maximus Decimus said:

I thought it was a decent film. It doesn't really try to tell the story of Dunkirk, it focusses on individual attempts at escape.

One of the criticisms I had was that if you didn't have a good grasp of the film and only went because of Harry Styles, you wouldn't really understand what the whole point was.

Yes but that would be the youngsters that Farage says it is important should see the film so that must be good. 

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23 hours ago, westlondonfan said:

As we are telling stories about WW2 my grandfather was in Fleet Air Arm and was in a three ship convoy through the Mediterranean to Ceylon (now Sri Lanka).. One of the three ships were sunk by the Italians. Luckily he was on one of the other two ships. Despite that afterwards he never kicked off every time he went past a branch of Carluccio's ! 

That's a lot more restrained than a (now sadly deceased) Italian friend of mine could ever be. The things he used to say about Antonio Carluccio - blimey!

Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

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On 8/10/2017 at 5:36 PM, iffleyox said:

The whole point was that for whatever reason the Wehrmacht failed properly to push home their advantage.

Its alleged Field Marshalls Gerd von Runstedt and Günther von Kluge convinced Hitler to stop the advance on Dunkirk for 3 days,due to the speed of advancement, the Wehrmacht was tired and short on supplies and equipment. Also the terrain around Dunkirk and the Street Fighting was not really ideal for the Troops the Germans had in the area as many were Tanks and Mechanical Divisions. Some say Hitler didnt really want to fight the British and was happy for them to allow 330,000 Soldiers to escape. Others feel much of the German Army was redirected South.

The German Wehrmacht often used the captured Weapons of the French, British/Commonwealth and Czech Armies as they were short and in some cases it was better than what they had. The 37mm Anti Tank gun of the Germans was known as the doorknocker as it failed to destroy tanks. Also the Wehrmacht was very much marching on foot and big distances appeared between the tanks and Mechanical divisions and the Foot Soldiers especially in Russia.

The 3 days allowed the British to escape and some historians believe changed the course of WW2. Many German soldiers wanted to push on and drive the British in to the Sea. Göring, as ever, told Hitler his Luftwaffe could do the job of finishing the British Off. And not for the first time the Luftaffe didnt do the job that Göring said they would. The British were very lucky to loose so few soldiers due to the Germans stopped really attacking for 3 days or so.

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