DUNKIRK (2017) | FIRST TIME WATCHING | MOVIE REACTION

[@andymageen5308]

I had an uncle that gave his life volunteering for the rearguard at Dunkirk, who fought to the last man giving vital time for rest of the army to get away. Without the miracle of Dunkirk Britain would have undoubtedly been conquered within a short period of time. That generation are known as the greatest for a reason. ✌️

[@SiloGrain]

They would be so proud to see what England/Europe has become ❤️

[@martinhardie2336]

I also had an uncle who died trying to hold back the advancement of the 2nd Panzar Division on 1st June 1940 during the Battle of Abbeville. He was only 20yrs old and was part of the 4th Battalion of the Queens Own Cameron Highlanders. He is buried in Longuville.

[@DebraHarter]

God rest the soul of your uncle and all the men who so unselfishly gave their lives😢

[@kt0062]

Eternal honour be upon your uncle. May he rest in peace

[@brucewilliams4152]

My uncle Harry captured at dunkirk, one of the year guard

[@dukeofoven]

RIP George William Wells, Royal Sussex Regiment, killed in action, Dunkirk, 27th May 1940, aged 21. My great uncle.

[@scott9050]

My Grandfather was at Dunkirk, he was also a rear guard volunteer that was picked up by a small boat that came back to look for survivors. After Dunkirk, he was shot in the arm in North Africa by a machine gun bullet that had gone through the head of his best friend. The hospital ship he was on was sunk and he was picked up by an American Red Cross ship. He gave to the Red Cross until he died at age 103 in 2016.

[@lindataggart9076]

Bravo!

[@Will-b7g]

Liar. 2nd account that has written this.

[@stephentaylor9900]

The article that you heard read out at the end was a transcript of Winston Churchill’s speech in parliament, one of the most famous speeches ever made. The ‘we shall fight them on the beaches’ speech.

[@ragnarok283]

Ah the fat drunk who started the war, destroyed the British Empire (also Europe) but had his name cleaned and debt paid.

[@dastemplar9681]

The most important speech in all of the 20th Century. Britain makes its decision to turn their island into what possibly could’ve been the last bastion of the freewill for humanity. No surrender, no matter what. Britain will fight Hitler’s Nazi Empire, alone if they must. People often forget how absolutely scary the years 1940-41 were for Western Europe. Hitler’s Blitzkrieg consumed Denmark, Norway, Holland, Belgium, and France . A non-aggression pact was signed between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union while they divided Poland and the Baltic states between themselves. Italy joined on the side of the Axis Powers, and Fascist Spain and Sweden declared neutrality. For Britain, it must’ve seemed to them as if it was their island against an entire Nazi-occupied world. While it may have been the Darkest Hour, it was to be Britain’s Finest Hour as well.

[@JynxedKoma]

@@dastemplar9681 Couldn't have said that better myself!

[@debbicook1584]

Approx 850-1000 small boats left the UK to cross the channel to rescue stranded soldiers, most piloted by civilians who just wanted to help. Many did not make it back to England BUT they rescued over 330,000 men UK , French and Allies. An unbelievable feat of bravery. ❤

[@neilgriffiths6427]

True - but the small boats took off about 50,00 (a division worth, so no small feat), the rest on the destroyers.

[@BoondockSaintts_007]

The "Darkest Hour" is about Winston Churchill during the early days of being Prime Minister during WWII. Really good movie. Gary Oldman plays Winston and does a great job as usual.

[@williamgraber6683]

"Darkest Hour" is a must see to follow up this film.

[@11lbgoose]

Agree! The Darkest hour should be watched with this movie.

[@d.jparer5184]

Actually it's a terrible movie, there's a lot of modern cheesyness that was uncharacteristic of the time period. Also Oldman gets Churchill completley wrong, he portrays him like a British Hitler (shouting and gesticulating with vitriol and passion) as opposed to Churchill's more measured and deliberate manner. Anyone who is actually familiar with Churchill or his life will be severely disappointed by the darkest hour.

[@dudermcdudeface3674]

"The Gathering Storm" is a better film about Churchill. Oldman's movie has too much fake stuff.

[@TheFalconerNZ]

I agree that they should watch the movie 'Darkest Hour' to see why England didn't surrender but as stated it is a bad portrayal of Winston Churchill so they should also follow it with the more accurate 'The Gathering Storm' but which one is better, the 1974 or the 2002 movie? Also remember 'Hacksaw Ridge' (& many or movies) was also full of inaccuracies but it is forgivable to take artistic license to give a good story so in that regard I do like the 'Darkest Hour' is not a bad movie as it is a good story, just a bad portrayal of Winston Churchill.

[@leehallam9365]

The characters in the story were fictional, but inspired by real people. The man who inspired the skipper of the small boat, Dawson, was Charles Lightoller, who was the second officer of the Titanic, and the most senior survivor of the crew. He was the officer in charge of the lifeboats stopping men getting on. He really did take his motor yacht The Sundowner with his oldest son and a seascout Gerald Ashcroft to rescue 127 men. He did use advice from his younger son who had been killed earlier to avoid a Stuker attack. What wasn't in the film was that his middle son was on the beaches, he got off and you will be glad to hear that young Gerald did not die, he survived the war. Sadly though Lightoller's oldest son who was on the boat with him did not survive the war. In reality he wasn't a young civilian but a Navy officer in his thirties, he died in an engagement in March 1945.

[@andrewlustfield6079]

What is so amazing about this movie is just how raw it is. There's zero handholding and no contrived narrative. It just showed us the British soldiers trying to survive this as best they could. There is no varnish--that's what makes it so powerful.

[@UKKrycek]

My grandad was a stretcher bearer at Dunkirk. He survived the war only to have a heartattack while my mum as only 9. I wish I had met him. From photos I have seen of him I am his spitting image.

[@gordontanner4407]

A thought on the blind man with the blankets, he may have been a World War One Vet blinded by mustard gas in the trenches, still contributing with what he can. BYDAND!!!!

[@feudist]

"U-Boat" = German submarine. Undersea boat. A classic WW2 movie about the U-Boats is "Das Boot". It's not for the faint of heart.

[@johnboydTx]

War is Waste and Insanity 😢 Das Boot proves it !!!!!! Fantastic Recommendation ✌️🤠

[@michaelcollier9893]

Almost certainly the best sub movie ever made maybe the best naval film even. A personal favorite!

[@ashocck8065]

Yeah, Das Boot is a great movie. The uncut 4 hour one is amazing.

[@Carln0130]

Amber asked at the 14-minute mark, "how did they get surrounded like this?". In May of 1940, the Germans attacked in the Belgium area as they did in WW1 with a feinting force to draw the Allies forward, and then struck through the Ardennes with their main mechanized force which was thought largely impassable to tanks and armored vehicles and broke through. They rolled up the southern flank of the Allied armies and dashed to the sea, cutting off the bulk of the northern forces, both British and French in just 2-3 weeks. They were forced up against the coast of France and had to abandon their heavy weapons and many men to captivity. If not for the seaborne evacuations, none would have escaped. The story of many small boats sailing off to the war zone across the English Channel is true. France fell shortly thereafter in June of 40. The world was stunned by the new Blitzkrieg techniques the Germans had used. Techniques originally thought up by the British, but largely overlooked by the military hierarchy. It looked like with France out of the war and the British army short on everything that the war was lost. The Battle of Britain followed the loss of France and was decided in August of 1940, though the bombings stretched on for much longer. It was an aerial battle and the British won it at great cost. The British did send in their destroyers. The larger vessels could not get in close enough to take off the troops. The British and French did lose several destroyers though. Late edit, Das Boot will show you what a U-boat was. Great war flick told from the other side in a German U-Boat.

[@stuartarmstrong5190]

Dunkirk didn't win the war, but stopped it being lost. "Dunkirk Spirit" is a phrase we have in the UK, reflecting an attitude of never giving in and helping each other to the bitter end. You have to remember that the 400,000 soldiers on the beach was pretty much the whole British Army. If they didn't get home Hitler would take Britain and Europe. As it was, Britain and allies then had to hang in for over a year before the US joined in and helped turn the tide.

[@1chish]

It was actually over 2 years later (November 1942) when the Americans first saw action (in North Africa).

[@gamer191]

One Week was the time frame of the beach story, One day is the length of the boat story and the one hour is the time the plane was flying......

[@mikeb7379]

My grandfather was there. He survived went back later, survived that and came home. Never spoke about any of it. Ever. The beach they were trapped on had a very shallow sea approach. That's why the pontoon/bridge was so important so that larger ships could dock. That's also the reason all these small boats were needed so much.

[@MisterWondrous]

Anything that Kenneth Branagh touches becomes gold. Especially his own productions. Especially his Shakespeare. Apparently his recent "Hamlet" is the best visual Shakespeare of all time, and word for word Shakespeare, as written. "Much Ado About Nothing" may be the best place to start, as it is a sexy comedy, with everybody in it. Keanu Reeves, Denzel Washington, Micheal Keaton, Emma Thompson, and introducing Kate Beckensale as the radiant Hero. The music and dancing is how life should always be. It's basically a Rom-Com, only by the Bard.

[@Jaytee.]

Frankenstein was crap though.

[@MisterWondrous]

@@Jaytee. Didn't see. I may refrain. Tx!

[@ehilton96]

Six small estuary cockling boats sailed from our village of Leigh-on-Sea, Essex to ferry men from the shore to the larger boats and eventually to bring our menfolk home. Their pictures hang on our pub wall, a testament to their bravery.

[@sigil5772]

Have to give props to Tom Hardy's ability to act so expressively with only his eyes. See also Dark Knight Rises.

[@JohnHodGardener]

This movie’s greatness is due to Nolan’s direction, and the spot-on soundtrack. Both capturing the desperation, the hopelessness, and the glory of the rescue. This film is a perfect example of storytelling at its finest

[@Paul-yh8km]

It's crap. The 1958 film is better and less annoying.

[@ragnarok283]

The “rescue” happened because Adolf Hitler didn’t wanted to slaughter them because of course, he didn’t wanted a war against England.

[@blackprix]

I am an avid, second world war history buff. That war saved the world and the allies made it happen against the worst of the worst the fascist Hitler killing machine. Loved this movie for history of Dunkirk and how Churchill was able to get his soldiers home.👏👏👏👏💙💙💙 This is a true event!!!

[@SiloGrain]

Yes they saved the world so Africans and middle Easterners could walk in and take their homes ❤🎉

[@susanpeters5392]

From England my grandad was taken at Dunkirk became a P.OW

[@liamailiam]

So glad my mixed-race grandson can twerk at gay pride parades. Bettter than speaking German.

[@Paul-yh8km]

It's a crap movie the 1958 movie with John Mills and Richard Attenborough is 100 times better

[@blackprix]

@@Paul-yh8km I wouldn’t call it crap I would call it history, and I did see that early one with John Mills… They came from different decades but still held the importance of the Dunkirk situation and how it was handled and that was what I got out of it. I’m also a huge Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill fanatic and I’ve read, watch documentaries and follow their history for many years. But for their leadership at a very difficult time and our world, we might be living a different life now and thank God we’re not.🙏🙏🙏🙏😊

[@robertom6869]

18:55 The Spitfire Merlin engine has such a unique sound, you know one is flying over without seeing it. Where I live near to a local airfield, we are lucky to regularly have spitfires fly over and sometimes engage in loops and barrel rolls. A truly remarkable plane.

[@shellieeyre8758]

They are such wonderful little planes.

[@rudylerma8973]

The story is told from three perspectives-land (one week of action), sea (one day of action) and air (one hour of action). Great movie. I saw it in IMAX.

[@philjones863]

As a Gen X i grew up listening to stories from my grandfathers and great grandfathers/ uncles of what they went through in both WW1 and WW2. I worry we're already at risk of forgetting the lessons of history.

[@igloo2158]

Same here. I’m lucky to even be here. So many close calls. 7 of his brothers all fought and miraculously all made it home.

[@susanpeters5392]

History always repeats itself unfortunately

[@fin-ed6oj]

My great grandfather was at Dunkirk. He was actually on a naval boat that got hit by a submarine torpedo, and he managed to get off and swim to another rescue boat

[@RetroClassic66]

16:08 The cinematography (not videography, this was photographed on film) was by the Oscar-winning cinematographer Hoyte Van Hoytema.

[@MermaidMusings7]

Christopher Nolan is a genius. The Dark Knight trilogy, Interstellar, Inception, Oppenheimer... he made so many great movies.

[@Mean-bj8wp]

I watched this in the cinema and the sound was incredible. The silence at the start then the 1st shot absolutely shocked you and the atmospheric music just pulled you in. For me this is one of the greatest war movies ever made.

[@moi1151]

I saw this movie on opening night in theatres. I was so mind blown I couldn’t think of anything else for 2 days after. It still haunts me.

[@lordofthereels6790]

Atonement with James McAvoy, Benedict Cumberbatch and Keira Knightly is another amazing World War II epic with an powerful portrayal of Dunkirk

[@ninawildr4207]

Yes!❤

[@eclectrickery8077]

Another great true war story is Stephen Spielberg's "Empire of the Sun" . Generally considered to be his "forgotten masterpiece", it introduced Christian Bale in his first role. Think you'll enjoy it.

[@danielferguson3784]

I too had an uncle who died on the defence line while the others got off the beaches at Dunkirk. He was 20 years old. He died just about 75 miles from where his uncle was killed in the 1st world war, also at the age of 20. They were both called John.

[@RetroClassic66]

41:15 The pilot wasn’t able to get off the beach because, as you see, he was captured by the Germans, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that he didn’t survive the war. He might very well have done so. The Germans captured between 30,000 and 40,000 French soldiers and at least 40,000 British soldiers after the evacuation of Dunkirk was completed. Those prisoners of war were then sent to POW camps throughout Europe, many in Germany itself, and while some men didn’t survive imprisonment, most did, and returned to their home countries after they were liberated. A couple of great movies that take place in German POW camps that are recommended are STALAG 17 (1953) and THE GREAT ESCAPE (1963). The evacuation of Dunkirk took place between May 27 and June 4, 1940, and resulted in the rescue of 338,226 troops. The evacuation was a major boost to British morale and was hailed as miraculous by the public and press. However, the evacuation left behind many soldiers who were later mistreated and abused by the Germans for the remainder of the war. Some other facts about the evacuation of Dunkirk include: 90% of the city of Dunkirk was destroyed during the battle. 16,000 French soldiers and 1,000 British soldiers died during the evacuation. The evacuation was made possible both by the use of small pleasure boats, known as "little ships", which were called upon to assist in the evacuation and the use of the Royal Navy's large warships, which were able to pick up soldiers from a sea wall or send their boats onto the beach.

[@mred20]

As a Brit I just like people coming home. edit: Tom Hardy destroyed his own aircraft so as not to give anything away, the Spitfire was more advanced.

[@mrjames6499]

I dont think you're right there. In May 1940 the Spitfire Mk1 vs the ME109 ​was a pretty even fight. Both planes had advantages over the other. The FW190 had not yet been introduced and the P51, at the time used the Allison engine and was not a great aircraft (it would become an excellent one in 1942 when fitted with the Merlin powerplant). The Spitfire and the ME109 were the best around. No doubt either airforce would have argued their plane was the best.

[@TrackSixx]

It's not really about the more advanced airframe, it's more about communications equipment, codewords, and signaling hardware. Letting the enemy get to any of that information drastically cripples allied efforts, more so than having a better aircraft. We still see that today, downed aircraft are meticulously studied for any small bit of information.

[@HorySmokes]

I think it was more that he couldn't leave a usable Spitfire for the enemy to commandeer. A German pilot in a Spitfire could cause chaos in battle. Plus there would be obvious security issues.

[@gavin1506]

it was a Hurricane surely?

[@Paul-yh8km]

The Spitfire at the time of Dunkirk wasn't more advanced, it used a carburettor in the Merlin engine which could cut the fuel in a dive. The German ME 109 had fuel injection. By the end of the war the Spitfire was a different aircraft and was superior to the 109.

[@christopherlegg5469]

I live in Weymouth, the town this was filmed in (the harbour with small boats leaving for rescue attempts) My dad worked lagistics on set, got to meet the actors and all production team, said they were all amazing people. We had some of the filming equipment and film reels in our house for one night ready for transporting the next morning to Southampton airfield, for all the spitfire filming. Weymouths a small town but has a lot of history, so it was great to have this filmed here.

[@emmanuelmartin1238]

This and The Battle of Britain movie have the best WW2 aircraft shots.

[@rittherugger160]

Each story has it's own timeline. One story might take place over different timelines. A mole is a long narrow pier. You can see it lined with people. The Mole - One Week means that for this story the movie will end in a week. Switching to the seaside town The Sea - One Day This story takes a day to live. It shows how all these different people come together when they do. The scene where the 3 Spitfires flew by the boat is shown after you see one of the 3 planes shot down. Amber figured it out. Way to go girl.

[@davenoppe5405]

The parallels between the experiences of Sir Mark Rylance's small boat and that of "Sundowner" (taken to Dunkirk by Commander C.H. Lightoller, DSC, RNR (Retired)) can be read on pages 201-3 of "Dunkirk" by A.D. Divine (published in 1945). Lightoller (previously second officer and most senior surviving crew member of R.M.S. Titanic) took as crew his son and a sea scout. He picked up survivors from a returning motor cruiser and took them back to Dunkirk, "giving them the additional pleasure of again facing the hell they had only just left". His youngest son Brian (lost flying his Blenheim in the first air raid on Wilhelmshaven) had previously given him advice on evasive tactics and he used them to evade a German fighter that made three unsuccessful attempts to sink the boat, then gave up and flew away. The stoker P.O. assisting disembarkation of one hundred thirty men did ask where he had put them. One surprise is that several equally dramatic incidents in this account were not used in this movie, so perhaps they were working from a different version of Lightoller's story.

[@johnsmith-es7zk]

As you can see Dunkirk was a very shallow beach are large ships could not get in close. They had to lay offshore, small boats were needed that could go into the shallow beach and collect soldiers to ferry them out to the larger ships. One war film that barely gets reviewed but is a true story and incredibly inspiring to watch is "The Railwayman" with Colin Firth and Nicole Kidman. A man captured by the Japanese and forced to work on the infamous Burma railway. The awful PTSD he suffered is brilliantly portrayed by Firth.

[@turnerdan53]

The movie To Hell And Back is the story of Audie Murphy the most decorated American during WW2. He also plays himself in the movie.

[@Bulletzen1000]

The film is also about time. Something Nolan has always been obsessed with. You can hear it with the constant ticking in the soundtrack. The Spitfire Pilots, the rescue boats and the soldiers getting home are all in different time points throughout the Dunkirk exodus. Oh! And U-Boats is short for underwater boats = Submarines

[@LordEriolTolkien]

This is one of Britain's most revered defeats. A moral rallying point for generations to come. Mythical in many ways. Also i would recommend 'The Battle of Britain', ' The Great Escape', 'The Dambusters', 'The Colditz Story', 'Where Eagles Dare', 'The Dirty Dozen', ' The Battle of the Bulge', and 'Kelly's Heroes'

[@Rob_Baker1962]

Kenneth Branagh, who played Commander Bolton in this film, has quite a few good credits. I highly recommend "Henry V," the "St Crispin's Day Speech" of which is often considered one of the most inspirational speeches and the "Non nobis" song is so wonderful that our church has used it as a processional. Another must is "Much Ado About Nothing." Even though it has what would seem to be an unlikely cast, they all work beautifully together and I know several people for whom this is their favorite film.

[@simonphoenix3018]

I've been binge watching a lot of your reviews including the music ones and your girl Amber is looking much slimmer, a lot of hard work has been going on. Mr Jay, you sir are a lucky man! You both come across very well, a very watchable, natural couple who have a good take on life and let the films/music speak for themselves. You deserve all the success which comes your way.

[@RetroClassic66]

37:24 Fighter, but not a fighter jet, Jay. This was in 1940, a few years before jet aircraft became available. The first viable fighter jet was German, the Messerschmidt ME-262, and it saw action in the skies above Europe in the latter days of the war (1944-45), but jet aircraft development in the UK and USA really didn’t start in earnest until after the war had ended in 1945. The first war to see primarily fighter jet aircraft in action was the Korean War from 1950-1953.

[@tinadunham1196]

The man sailing his boat to help in the movie was based on the real life of Lightower who was the 2nd mate on the Titanic. He had a real interesting life.

[@MaybeTaylor_]

The blind man at the end giving out the blankets, he was meant to be a ww1 veteran blinded by mustard gas hence why he said "that's enough" about them only surviving, as he knew what hell those kids just came back from

[@kenpaden]

WW2 movies always have a special place in my heart, because my Dad was a veteran of that war, he was in the Navy for 3 and half years. Two of his favorite WW2 movies that he always watched when they came on tv were The Bridge over the River Kwai , released in 1957 , which has a younger Alec Guinness in it, he of course was Obi Wan Kenobi, from the first Star Wars trilogy.. The other film my Dad loved was The Dirty Dozen, released in 68. I concur with everybody else DARKEST HOUR is a much see with the great Gary Oldman playing Winston Churchill. I would also suggest reading up more on this Dunkirk story ,, its fascinating .

[@alanbobbymcguire5099]

This is the true story of the BEF. The British Expeditionary Force. There was many many heroes of those few days. If it weren’t for these lovely lovely little boats and our Royal Navy it could easily be a different outcome. God bless our Great Britain. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧

[@KittenWAW]

Now that you've seen this, you should watch Mrs. Minniver, from 1942, right in the middle of the war years for Brittain. The film depicts a family in the British countryside in 1940, and the Dunkirk incident is a prominent part of the movie. It won 6 Academy Awards. Although it's an American film, British Prime Minister Winston Churhill said the film did more for the England's war effort than a flotilla of destroyers. Even Hitler's Minister of Propaganda, Joseph Goebbels, praised it! It's thrilling, it's heartwarming, it'll make you smile and laugh - but bring your hankie, just in case.

[@davidbb2081]

An U-Boot (Untersee Boot) was a German WWIi attacking submarine. All of them were named with an "U" followed by a registry number. You can see U-Boot at films like "Das Boot" (great German film) or "U-571".

[@shainewhite2781]

Nominated for 8; Oscars including Best Picture but won for Best Film Editing Best Sound Editing Best Sound Mixing.

[@sandraecheverria4695]

Operation Dynamo was the name of that mission, when civilian boats were summoned because the destroyers could not reach the coast of Dunkirk due to the shallows, that is why only small boats could reach close to the coast and save the soldiers. Greetings from Argentina

[@cyatic]

Another really good movie that isn't reacted to very much is "Taking Chance." Movie stars Kevin Bacon and is a true story of a US Marine being brought back home. I watch it every Memorial Day. It's very good. You see what happens to our military in war and the guilt some feel.

[@MrYoup11]

The civilian boats were sent in rescue the soldiers off the beaches because the large war ships could not get close enough for the soldiers to wade out to them. The larger ships could only dock at the Mole and you can see in the movie how well that went.

[@evilhobbes]

Great example of a near perfect soundtrack that made a great movie better. Not one you listen to by itself, but perfect at making you feel the tension along with the soldiers.

[@leppardification]

Great movie. You should check ouf Memphis Belle for a little ww2 bomber group action . Two great cold war/post cold war era sub movies are Crimson Tide and Hunt for Red October.

[@twoheart7813]

French infantry were the rear guard doing their best to hold the last line while the Dunkirk pocket was evacuated. A total of 123K to 140k French troops were evacuated from Dunkirk, around a third of the total 338,000 troops rescued. About 35,000 French soldiers sacrificed themselves a few kilometres away from the Beach to gain more time for the evacuation. The German "blitzkrieg" Caught the Allies off guard which got them into that mess. German U-boats "submarines" were also used. A great cold war movie is The Bedford Incident, worth checking out.

[@paulpeacock1181]

Bedford Incident stars Sidney Poitier

[@twoheart7813]

@@paulpeacock1181 A fine Actor

[@daneelolivaw602]

Around 30, to 40,000 British troops were also ordered to stay behind to help the French defend the Beaches.

[@suemcglone2151]

The character of George was inspired in part by John Atkins who worked on a sailing barge. John was only 15 and sadly lost his life when the vessel he was on was hit and sunk. Just like George, John was really eager to go and help and he wrote a letter to his mum before they set sail to explain that he might not come back but that she should not worry. An officer in charge of the boat John was on, wrote to his mum after his death and explained that had he known John's true age he wouldn't have let him come along but they were out at sea before he found out. He transfered John to a larger vessel (that was pulling the barge) in the hope that he would be safer there. Unfortunately both that boat and the barge were sunk. Ironically, if he'd stayed on the smaller barge he may have survived, as he was the only one of the original barge crew to lose his life. There were much greater casualties on the bigger boat. RIP, John.

[@1chish]

They hoped to get 35,000 people off and the Small Boats saved 338,000. To us Brits it was a miracle although it was a defeat but we lived to fight another day. Just a few weeks later we inflicted the first defeats on the German Luftwafffe and Navy. The man sailing his boat to Dunkirk was Charles Lightoller who was Second Officer on the Titanic.

[@rayvanhorn1534]

An absolutely amazing film. There are so many great stories from WWII which have come to the screen. This one can be confusing due to the unique method of showing the timeline but once you figure it, so compelling. You do "Battle of Britain", "The Darkest Hour", "Conspiracy", "Dunkirk", "Band of Brothers", "Valkyrie"...& one can get a really good grasp of the war. I'm sure some have escaped memory but hope y'all can add the rest of these that you've not seen to the list.

[@dalebarkwell1807]

No jets at this time in history Jay.

[@Locquiao93]

You guys NEED to watch DARKEST HOUR after this, puts Dunkirk and the rest of the war in more context. Plus Gary Oldman is A+ as always

[@martinbraun1211]

I suggest "All Quiet on the Western Front" (2022). Winner of 4 Oscars.

[@davidhuggan6315]

I believe it needs to be watched in German with subtitles

[@Pink.andahalf]

Book was better. Movie tried too hard to be philosophical and ironic.

[@Zebred2001]

That movie reworked the story too much. Any other version is much more faithful to the book including the 1930 classic. There was a 1979 TV movie of it that was pretty good too.

[@d.jparer5184]

​@@Zebred2001 Yeah I agree, watch any other version than the 2022 one. It's trash.

[@GoodKingMort]

Fantastic film.

[@gordontanner4407]

My Uncle Davie was evacuated from Dunkirk. He would go on and fight in North Africa and Europe.BYDAND!!

[@thereds1959]

My,both Grand fathers fought at Gallipoli with the South Lancashire Regiment and James Farrell was shot 3 times in the left, luckily he survived the war. Then my grandfather James Price fought in the same conflict and survived and then onto fight in Mesopotamia for a Royal family and government who didn’t care about their own people but only what they could gain by land and profit. Nothing changes

[@Yumm...]

You gotta do Christopher Nolan’s film “Interstellar” you’ll absolutely love it! Amber being a sci-fi fan, you need to watch it

[@juliecowen3641]

Love interstellar, great movie.

[@ThePreview87]

I think they have seen interstellar if I'm not mistaken.

[@0Tyson0]

The more i see this movie the better it gets, its a masterpiece.

[@CanadianNavyVeteran]

Great reaction. Much love from Canada.

[@emmanuelmartin1238]

That was the British expeditionary force, in 1940 the nasties had just taken northern France, and with their Blitzkrieg ( lightning war) tactics they took the unprepared allies by surprise. The allies were forced to the coast and had to somehow evacuate. The nasties had been fighting non stop for weeks and were slowed by the French and from exhaustion. This gave us time to form some kind of evacuation.. it all happened over just 9 days... long story short- if we had failed we would have lost most of our Army which would have made the coming invasion attempt a tad more tricky. Incidentally a U-boat is a German Sub. And just to be clear- that article Was the end part of Winston Churchill's speech after being in office for just under a month that united a nation.

[@emmanuelmartin1238]

@tileux Thanks for that, you're right that would have been a great point to focus on. I know the Germans went through the forested Ardennes, I may have meant they were surprised by that? I like this movie from a photographic pov. Never knew about the hold on the spitfires, pretty significant change that would have made to things all round.

[@lynnejamieson2063]

@tileux my Granda’s regiment (the Royal Scots Fusiliers) was amongst those not evacuated from Dunkirk, they were instead sent to Le Havre with orders to ‘dig in and wait for the Germans’. I can’t remember off the top of my head just how long they waited there but once it was established that the Germans were in no rush to get to where they were, they were brought ‘back to Blighty’. Though he did end up sunk in the English Channel four years later when the ship he was on (The Derrycunihy) was sunk by an acoustic mine while his Reconnaissance regiment was waiting to land at Normandy a couple of weeks after D-Day. Luckily he survived. I honestly can’t comprehend how it would have felt for my Granda as a twenty year old who had signed up to the TA as a nineteen year old during the push to increase the military in the build up to WWII, possibly in part due to his Dad and both his Granda’s having served in WWI but when Saving Private Ryan came out he told me that he’d signed up thinking that it’d only be a few months, he’d maybe get to see somewhere outside of Ayr, he’d get a bit of extra time off for training days and a wee bit of extra pay…which so screams typical nineteen year old thinking to me.

[@lynnejamieson2063]

@tileux neither the fact that many troops were given orders that meant they would be left behind in occupied France nor the sinking of The Derrycunihy (which was the largest single loss of life at sea of the Normandy Landings) are particularly known. I don’t know if it’s to do with links to reconnaissance (in the time prior to the creation of the reconnaissance regiments, the Royal Scots Fusiliers regiment my Granda was in was used for reconnaissance and the sinking of The Derrycunihy happened when it was transporting reconnaissance troops to France a couple of weeks after D-Day) or if the details are just lost in the magnitude of the ‘main event’. It is sad that the whole story isn’t told but that the most famous parts are frequently retold, no doubt because it involves the majority of the personnel connected with it but just as the Normandy Landings were more than just D-Day, the Dunkirk Evacuation was more than just Dunkirk or the Evacuation and all of men deserve to have their parts told, even if it’s just a short written paragraph at the end of the film acknowledging these other parts in general terms.

[@michaelmcnamee7865]

The greatest naval fleet gathering ever, I believe it was 1,100+ boats and 700 of them were civilian and 335,000 British troops were rescued by the people they swore to protect. Testiment of the British, they do what needs to be done, when it needs to be done. You do your duty.

[@ryanhighberg4662]

Only to be outdone by the 9/11 rescue of the individuals stranded on Manhattan. Two very surreal events

[@daneelolivaw602]

335,000 troops including over 130,000 French and other foreign troops, were saved, while the British Army ordered between 30, and 40,000 of our own troops to stay behind and help the French defend the beaches. Around 120,000 French troops were saved, after one week in the UK, over 100,000 of those French troops went back to France and surrendered.

[@robbymack9373]

I suggest "Tora! Tora! Tora!" from 1970. It's the only good film about Pearl Harbor.

[@Zebred2001]

Great pick! I watched it again (countless times) a couple of months ago.

[@drew65sep]

Ya'll gotta check out "A Bridge Too Far." It's got a star-studded cast that Hollywood couldn't afford to pay if it were made nowadays. Too many A-listers to put down here. It's about "Operation Market Garden," the largest airborne drop in history that took place in Holland. A great watch. But, it's a shame history isn't taught in school anymore...the lessons history teaches are the first forgotten.

[@suzy260]

"Good Morning Vietnam" is perhaps my favorite film with Robin Williams ever, and he has so many to choose from. It's a dramedy about the Vietnam War.

[@BanditHeelerOhBiscuits]

This was great but you HAVE to watch ‘1917’. It’s takes your breath away almost immediately!!!

[@davidhuggan6315]

Definitely. 1917 is a great film

[@Universal_Cymbol]

Came here to say this.

[@d.jparer5184]

1917 is a piece of trash, it's so unrealistic that it's actually disrespectful to the memory of the men who fought that war. It's essentially just a cheesy American WW2 movie set in WW1 for some reason. The one shot gimic fooled a lot of NPC's but if you have a brain or know even a small amount about WW1, you will be severely disappointed.

[@Zebred2001]

@@d.jparer5184 I don't know if I'd be quite as harsh but there certainly are issues with it if you know anything about the sights and sounds of WW1

[@d.jparer5184]

@@Zebred2001 you make it sound like it's a good film with only a few issues instead of an unrealistic piece of trash with the occasional few visual achievements. What parts of the film don't have massive issues? I honestly think that if any WW1 veterans were alive to have seen that film, they would either be crying with laughter or angry at the lack of respect paid to the time period by the director.

[@Galaxy-R2D2]

My great uncle was a civilian who received the George Cross medal during WW2.

[@mrupright]

Those French, Belgian, and Dutch soldiers held off the Germans to the last, knowing they were not getting away, but ensuring that the British could.

[@daneelolivaw602]

@mrupright Around 40 to 60,000 British soldiers were ordered to stay and help in defending those beaches, while the British rescued over 130,000 foreign troops, including 120,000 French soldiers and just one week after being rescued over 100,000 of those French soldiers went back to France and SURRENDERED to the Germans.

[@colinrumford2265]

Mark Rylance (the small boat captain) won an Oscar for Bridge of Spies, which is a wonderful, inspiring film from Steven Spielberg.

[@cliffordjones9226]

my Dad was at Dunkirk, he was 19, he got of on the last destroyer to leave , D85 Shikari, he also lost all his equipment.

[@danielkillian1222]

A good companion movie is Darkest Hour. Not 100% accurate, but gives added depth to what's happening here.

[@d.jparer5184]

It's not even 50% accurate and is incredibly cheesy and fake, not to mention Gary oldmans incredibly overrated impression of Churchill. These movies are not in the same league, what a terrible companion film. That's like saying hot shots part deaux is an excellent companion film to apocalypse now 😂

[@danielkillian1222]

@@d.jparer5184 he won the Oscar. Several nominations. Agree to disagree.

[@d.jparer5184]

@@danielkillian1222 winning an oscar doesn't mean anything except that you have been rewarded by the academy. Oldman played Churchill like a British Hitler, he got the accent right but got the man completely wrong, hence why it's an impression and not a performance. It's also a terrible film outside of the bad impression.

[@daz_n]

That final monologue always makes me tear up. We came so close to defeat.

[@ianbarker6456]

There were over 350,000 troops trapped with the sea behind them. No food, water, ammunition or weapons really. It was a nightmare for people who were just kids. The RAF could not supply effective cover because they had fuel for less than 30 minutes flying time which left them only a few minutes over Dunkirk before returning to base to refuel. Nearly 330,000 were saved.

[@jasong.5165]

Christopher Nolan always makes his films with some kind of time signature things. This one is confusing the first time around. It’s three different timelines being told simultaneously.

[@jlb6]

Apocalypse Now by Coppola arguably captures Vietnam in a surrealistic way. A must watch for fans of cinema, not saying it is a feel good story. If you liked the Godfather, it should be on your list

[@deannebeech5249]

My great uncle was at Dunkirk, he survived and returned for D day having fought through the war. He died in his 80's. Next up darkest hour to see what was happening across the channel at the time of Dunkirk.

[@josephscally6270]

There is a documentary here on this site about the evacuation of Manhattan directly following the 9/11 attacks. It is very worth watching and very uplifting.

[@ryanhighberg4662]

A half a million people in 9 hours. Almost impossible to imagine had it not happened.

[@Onz70]

Now you need to watch “Darkest Hour” with Gary Oldman as Winston Churchill

[@d.jparer5184]

No don't do it, the film is an overrated piece of trash. It's not in the same league as Dunkirk.

[@Onz70]

@@d.jparer5184regardless of what you think of the movie, these two aren't educated on WW2. Watching Darkest Hour would help in learning more about this event in history. 🙄 put thanks for your pointless useless comment 🙄

[@d.jparer5184]

@@Onz70 lol you think watching a cheesy unrealistic film set during WW2 will help them learn about WW2 🤣 maybe they should watch hot shots part deaux to learn about Vietnam! If you want to educate them on WW2, get them to read a book or watch a documentary.

[@pjb3583]

Have you considered watching Band of Brothers? It’s an HBO mini-series about paratroopers in World War II, masterfully done and incredibly effective story-telling. Loved watching this with you! Peace …

[@jeffpawlinski3210]

Amber and Jay, the Supertramp song song "Fool's Overture" makes reference to this battle as they use Winston Churchill's voice in his famous speech...."We shall fight on the seas, fight on the beaches..." It's another excellent Supertramp song you should explore. Enjoy!

[@Sarkney2010]

You guys gotta watch the best mini series ever Band of Brothers!!

[@BigAl53750]

What makes this movie hard to follow, is that the timeline of each scenario is different, so that you see things happen, then later see that same scenario from a different perspective, so it can be confusing. The trouble with those fighter planes was that they had limited time over the target because of fuel capacity and they only had a certain amount of ammunition. If the pilot held his finger on the trigger for a mere 20 seconds, his guns would be empty. At that time of the war, the German airforce (Luftwaffe) had the upper hand, as they had less distance to fly to where the action was. The RAF fighters were restricted to only a few minutes because they had further to go. The civilian vessels could get closer to the beach than the large ships and that made it easier to get more men on board. Can you guys believe that there was some criticism of this movie for the fact that there weren’t any coloured people in it? The evacuation of Dunkirk was not a defeat, but a victory, because many of those men would later return to the beaches of Normandy, with Canadians, Australians, New Zealanders, and Americans, rather than being POW’s for the rest of the war. My parents lived in the UK at that time; My Dad turned 18 in 1939 and Mum was about 14. Dad was at Belfast University studying medicine and Mum was at High School and later became a nurse. They met in postwar Germany as RAF personnel in the occupying forces.

[@carenhelms8518]

A "u-boat" was how they referred to submarines in WWII. It is a term you hear a lot in all WWII movies.

[@Liofa73]

The movie has different timelines for each story. The beach timeline is over one week, the private boat timeline is over one day and the fighter plane timeline is over one hour (they only have fuel for a short time in the air).

[@johnboydTx]

Das Boot Directors Cut 👏👏👏👏👏👏 Fantastic Movie 🙏✌️❤️

[@micpar2]

Check out PATTON (1970) George C. Scott won the academy award for his role as General George Patton. Probably was not only the US best general. But the greatest general in all of WWII. Ironic George C. Scott was a US Marine in real life. The real Patton was pretty soft spoken, but Scott played him more like a Marine.

[@cynthiaschultheis1660]

This is a great cast, too!👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼

[@stevenjohnson3883]

And here are some other war movies for your future consideration: “Gettysburg” 1993 features some of those from the movie Tombstone. GREAT film! In my view overall accurate but I would nitpick a few things, such as the placement of Chamberlains troops on the third day. But the really great thing about this movie is the rank-and-file soldiers are civil war re-enactors who brought their own authentic equipment, and they are very serious about what they do. And the next ones are done in semi documentary style. “Tora! Tora! Tora!” 1970 Very historically accurate movie about Pearl Harbor on Dec 7, 1941. “Midway” 1976 Very accurate as well. Except the character played by Charlton Heston, Capt. Matt Garth he and the story of his son with the Japanese girlfriend are fictional but are composite characters and certainly represent real people and real situations. Virtually everybody else is a real historic person and they have them say what was actually said. The 2019 version is also accurate but has a different emphasis. Both are great. The Longest Day 1962 B&W The story of the D-day invasion on June 6, 1944. Very accurate. Packed with stars!!!

[@Pink.andahalf]

The recent Midway was incredibly inaccurate in its visual depiction of historic events. Rewatch their version of Pearl Harbor, and you'll notice that every single battleship in the harbor is identical. This issue is repeated over and over with various ships in the movie. CG artists can be incredibly lazy sometimes.

[@AddSerious]

"Bayonets!!!!!"

[@stevenjohnson3883]

@@Pink.andahalf I don’t disagree with you. I by far prefer the 76 version as it is closest to the book “Miracle at Midway” by Gordon Prange. As they even reproduce many of the exact words and conversations, etc. that Prange wrote about.

[@stevenjohnson3883]

@@AddSerious "Bayonets" Amen!!! As that is one of the most electric moments in any movie I have ever seen!!!

[@Tiresias55]

33:23 This scene, this music, just this moment always makes me want to burst into tears. I always love watching reviews of this movie, because it really is one of the greats when it comes to war movies. the constant tention, wondering about people who you hardly know, will they survive, wont they make it back just so intense. Growing up, when I was little I was always phasinated by the World Wars, owing to my Granddad who was likewise enthrawled and highly educated about a lot of the war. His own father, my Great Grandfather, (who we called Little Granddad), was one of the men standing on that beach gazing across the channel at his homeland, waiting and hoping and praying for salvation. Thankfully, my Granddad told me that his Dad was lucky enough to be one of those soldiers rescued by the little ships of Britain, and managed to make it back home and to fight again. He became part of the forgotton war, fighting in Berma and received several medals for his time serving. Though, like most other people who comment with relatives who faught in that great conflict, he never spoke about his time as a soldier. I adore this movie, and the Darkest Hour both, because they are essentially companion pieces, Dunkirk showing us the perspective of the boots on the ground soldiers, and their desperation to get back home, while Darkest Hour shows us much of what happened from the political side of the war for England. Just amazing movies. I love them even more because I know if not for the incredible plan to deploy the little ships, my Great Grandfather wouldn't have made it home. Always hits me right in the feels and gets me teary-eyed. If you are interested in other movies, two of the best for me are the Great Escape, and Zulu. Two movies my GrandDad and I loved watching.

[@AlexandraLynch-x1v]

My father was a Cameron Highlander during the first World War. At Dunkirk when the planes straffed the men on the beaches a young officer said "Stand fast the Camerons".They stood and died. A wall of bodies was built to protect the men on the beaches

[@robcannon9165]

My father was in the royal navy and was at Dunkirk rescueing soldiers from the beach and people say it was a disaster for the British army trapped on Dunkirk Beach but it was a triumph of sheer human determination to save all those soldiers lives to get over 200,000 Soldiers off the beach ad safely return them safely back home to England 🇬🇧 and like most men of the 2nd world War generation he never spoke about his wartime experience at Dunkirk and the English stiff upper lip is real and The English Mantra was KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON!!!

[@LordEriolTolkien]

My father was born in 39, mere days after the outbreak of war, and my mother was born in 45 mere days after the war had ended; both their dad's, my grandads, fought in the war, and the shadow of these events still loomed large when I was born, as these tales were told and retold. Meks me proud to be British. There is a grim reality of the events that leaves its mark if you ponder it deeply. It was a dark time; the Darkest Hour as it were. If you want a full grim look at WW2 I recommend the old BBC series from the 70's 'The World At War'

[@ellen6638]

I would recommend Bridge on the River Kwai and The Imitation Game.

[@HaleTheTrev]

That movie deserves multiple viewings. It being a non linear story. You appreciate it the more times you watch it.