Dunkirk film review

[Caretaker]

Just been to see it.

Powerful film with great cinematography. Film score and action scenes cutting from different elements, air dogfights to ground forces being bombed and strafed, maintains the tension with a limited amount of dialogue. Historically it is very accurate but perhaps the RAF planes were shown flying lower than they actually did. It does give some credit to the French army fighting to hold the perimeter of Dunkirk in a scene at the start.

One thing that did bother me is that in two separate scenes cranes, presumably in the port, are in the background that don't seem to be in period. 

Anyway this is a minor quibble and if you like war films you should go and see it. Not quite as good as Das Boot but nearly.

[ChrisL]

As a child I was very interested in WW II  and I am aware of the Dunkirk rescue but I don't recall why/how the Germans didn't press the attack and finish them off.  It seemed they could have but didnt.... Any war buffs or historians know why?

I'll probably have to wait for it to come on cable, not likely I can get my wife to see it with me.

[Caretaker]

15 minutes ago, ChrisL said:

As a child I was very interested in WW II  and I am aware of the Dunkirk rescue but I don't recall why/how the Germans didn't press the attack and finish them off.  It seemed they could have but didnt.... Any war buffs or historians know why?

I'll probably have to wait for it to come on cable, not likely I can get my wife to see it with me.

There's some controversy over why the Germans halted their Panzers but one has to remember that while they had broken through the main line of defence and were on the way to victory the French Army hadn't yet capitulated. They concluded the British were cornered, something the British wouldn't have disagreed with as the best estimates among senior officers were that at most thirty to forty thousand men could be saved, therefore the Germans decided to spend three days regrouping and securing supplies. 

You should go and see it on your own as I don't think a small screen will do it justice. I saw it in 35mm film, there is also apparently a 70mm version.

[maddmaxx ★]

37 minutes ago, ChrisL said:

As a child I was very interested in WW II  and I am aware of the Dunkirk rescue but I don't recall why/how the Germans didn't press the attack and finish them off.  It seemed they could have but didnt.... Any war buffs or historians know why?

I'll probably have to wait for it to come on cable, not likely I can get my wife to see it with me.

 

6 minutes ago, Caretaker said:

There's some controversy over why the Germans halted their Panzers but one has to remember that while they had broken through the main line of defence and were on the way to victory the French Army hadn't yet capitulated. They concluded the British were cornered, something the British wouldn't have disagreed with as the best estimates among senior officers were that at most thirty to forty thousand men could be saved, therefore the Germans decided to spend three days regrouping and securing supplies. 

You should go and see it on your own as I don't think a small screen will do it justice. I saw it in 35mm film, there is also apparently a 70mm version.

I believe that Goering made it an easy decision when he stated that his Luftwaffe could finish them off.  Caretakers right though.  The German army had come a long way in a short time and needed a quick break.  The infantry was lagging behind the tanks and needed to catch up because the area around Dunkirk was not particularly well suited for Tanks without infantry support.

The generals did not agree with Hitler though.  They wanted to finish it at any cost.

[Caretaker]

1 minute ago, maddmaxx said:

 

I believe that Goering made it an easy decision when he stated that his Luftwaffe could finish them off.  Caretakers right though.  The German army had come a long way in a short time and needed a quick break.  The infantry was lagging behind the tanks and needed to catch up because the area around Dunkirk was not particularly well suited for Tanks without infantry support.

Yes, Goering had a habit of promising more than he delivered.

If you read Churchill's "We will fight them on the beaches.." speech which he gave in the British Parliament on the day the operation ended, 4th June 1940, he makes a thing of how the RAF overcame the Luftwaffe in it's mission of preventing the evacuation.