History Film / Dunkirk

*** By landing his plane away from the evacuation zone, it's possible that the party which arrested him were diverted from capturing and/or killing a few last straggler evacuees, making it a final last effort of Farrier to help them.

** The rearguard fighting of the French who had to stay behind to defend access to the beach is not given any screentime past the barricade at the beginning of the film, but it's still mentioned.

* BlingOfWar:
** Almost all of the characters who are military officers wear neckties, which was mandated by regulation then. This includes [[http://www.historynet.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Dunkirk-Lowden.jpg Collins]], [[http://www.indiewire.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/kenneth-branagh-and-james-d-arcy-in-dunkirk-2017.jpg Colonel Winnant]], and the [[https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/dc/3a/3a/dc3a3aaf00fc530dc7eb2d492ef45d79--cillian-murphy-crushes.jpg Shivering Soldier]]. The two exceptions are [[http://www.indiewire.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/kenneth-branagh-in-dunkirk-png.jpeg Commander Bolton]] and [[https://www.filmsjackets.com/image/cache/catalog/tom-hardy-dunkirk-farrier-jacket/dunkirk-farrier-jacket-750x750.jpg Farrier]], who wear more practical turtleneck sweaters underneath their uniforms instead.
** Strangely averted, however, with Colonel Winnant. He wears another rank's brass badge for the Royal Army Service Corps (officers wore more valuable bronze ones). He also wears coloured insignia on his shoulder straps. Not only were these not available at the time of Dunkirk, but they were colour-coded to show the arm of service, and RASC would wear yellow, not red.

* AnachronismStew: Some 1980s buildings and beach pavilions of Dunkirk can be seen behind the dunes.

* BigDamnHeroes: [[spoiler:Farrier manages to shoot down a Ju-87 Stuka while in glide mode due to his Spitfire running out of fuel. It was [[JustInTime just about]] to drop a bomb right atop of Commander Bolton and the pier.]]

Compare 1958 British film ''Film/{{Dunkirk|1958}}'' and French film ''Film/WeekendAtDunkirk''.

''Dunkirk'' is a 2017 UsefulNotes/WorldWarII film written and directed by Creator/ChristopherNolan about [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunkirk_evacuation Operation Dynamo]] -- the evacuation in late May 1940 of the British Expeditionary Force and remnants of the French First Army by sea with the help of just about [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Ships_of_Dunkirk any floating vessel]] that could be sent there, as the armies were completely surrounded by [[UsefulNotes/NazisWithGnarlyWeapons German forces]] in the eponymous coastal city of Dunkirk ("Dunkerque" in French).

* RousingSpeech: Played with. A different movie--like say ''Film/DarkestHour'', released the same year as ''Dunkirk'' and telling the same history from the other end of the command hierarchy--might have featured Winston Churchill's "we shall fight on the beaches" speech as a big ringing setpiece to close the film. Instead, we get Alex reading Churchill's immortal peroration from a newspaper, in a subdued tone of voice, underscoring not just Britain's determination to hold out but also the daunting nature of the dangers ahead.

The cast includes Creator/FionnWhitehead as BEF soldier Tommy, Music/HarryStyles (in his acting debut) as Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders BEF soldier Alex, Aneurin Barnard as Gibson, Creator/TomHardy as RAF pilot Farrier, Creator/CillianMurphy as a BEF soldier, Creator/KennethBranagh as Royal Navy Commander Bolton, Creator/MarkRylance as Mr. Dawson, and Creator/JamesDArcy as BEF Colonel Winnant. It was filmed on the actual location, [[ShownTheirWork with some actual vessels that were used during the evacuation]].

** In Churchill's speech near the end of the film, the line about "a victory inside this deliverance" is taken out of context so that it implicitly refers to the whole successful evacuation. In truth the next sentence was, "It was gained by the Air Force," followed by three paragraphs defending the Air Force from those who "saw only the bombers which escaped its protective attack" and presaging their importance in what would become the Battle of Britain.

** [[spoiler:When the first destroyer to break port is sunk in the middle of the channel, almost all of the passengers are trapped in the main hold while water pours in from a breach below the water line. And then the generators go out, making the situation that much more nightmarish by throwing the hold into total darkness. The frantic screams of drowning soldiers go on for quite a while.]]

* ShaggyDogStory: [[spoiler: Tommy and Gibson find a wounded soldier on a stretcher left behind by others while a Red Cross ship is about to leave the mole. The two pick him up, struggle through the extremely packed mole and just barely made it on to the Red Cross ship. The two are then told to leave the ship and leave the wounded man on the ship. Just before the ship leaves the beach, a dive bombing run sinks the ship, forcing everybody to abandon ship and push it off the mole to keep it from sinking in it, leaving the wounded man Tommy and Gibson spent minutes trying to save dead in the waters.]]

** [[spoiler:Gibson steals a dead British soldier's uniform, sticks with Tommy throughout the beginning of the film and helps him get a wounded soldier to the ships, saves both Tommy and Alex's lives when the latter are trapped in a sinking ship, and survives attack after attack from the Germans in the hope of getting to England... Only for him to be tangled up in chains at the exact wrong moment and drown.]]

* AndStarring: An unusual case where three cast members get separate "With" credits before finishing off with the "And". As a result the credits read as:

--> '''Winnant:''' What do you you see?

* DickDastardlyStopsToCheat: A German He-111 bomber and its BF-109 fighter escorts successfully attack and sink a Royal Navy minesweeper. Despite observing their target capsizing in a span of less than five minutes, the bomber's pilots decide to turn around [[SinkTheLifeboats for an attack run on the hapless survivors]] in the water instead of returning to base. [[spoiler: Ferrier sees them going after the survivors and [[GunshipRescue decides to take them out]], even though he knows he doesn't have enough fuel to make it back to base if he does.]]

** Germans are noticeably absent from the picture. They aren't even called out by name in the opening title cards and general dialogue, referred to only as "the enemy." (the only time they were referred directly, it was by an angry soldier and even then in the form of the pejorative slang "Jerrys", and the conversation he brings it up in isn't even about them) They are primarily represented in the film by aircraft, unseen U-boats, or shots fired from off screen. [[spoiler:The only Germans seen are the ones who take Farrier prisoner at the end of the movie, when he crash-lands on the beach. Even they have their faces blurred to seem like some supernatural menace.]]

* RousingSpeech: Played with. A different movie--like say ''Film/DarkestHour'', released the same year as ''Dunkirk'' and telling the same history from the other end of the command hierarchy--might have featured Winston Churchill's "we shall fight on the beaches" speech as a big ringing setpiece to close the film. Instead we get Alex reading Churchill's immortal peroration from a newspaper, in a subdued tone of voice, underscoring not just Britain's determination to hold out but also the daunting nature of the dangers ahead.

[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dunkirk_5.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:300:''[[{{Tagline}} "At the point of crisis, at the point of annihilation, survival is victory."]]'']]

* AbandonShip: Not only does it happen more than once, it happens more than once to the same characters. Those who have survived the trauma of one sinking are not eager to go below decks on the next craft. (You can actually hear the scream "Abandon ship!" after the destroyer is torpedoed.

* DroneOfDread: Parts of the music use very long notes to built up dread in scenes where less action is happening. They also use [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shepard_tone Shepard tone]] to continuously sound like they're rising despite not actually being so, creating a feeling of the conflict being constantly escalating and waiting for the release.

** Mr Dawson seems to know a lot about warplanes. [[spoiler:It's later revealed that he lost his eldest son, a RAF Hurricane pilot, in the first weeks of the German invasion of France.]]

** Averted with RAF pilots Farrier and Collins, who spent the majority of their screentime with their faces obscured and voices muffled by their flight masks, which are necessary for them to breathe and communicate while flying at high-altitudes. [[spoiler:Both remove their masks during the film's climatic act, where Farrier is captured by the Germans and Collins is shot down and forced to ditch in the Channel]].

* NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished: Mr. Dawson, Peter and his friend George rescue a shell-shocked soldier from the sea. The soldier later panicks when he learns that they're heading towards Dunkirk, and attempts to forcibly take control of the ship. In the struggle, [[spoiler:he injures George, who later dies.]]

** A barge full of soldiers are at sea, and then one of them hears the [[StukaScream unmistakable whine]] of a Stuka dive bomber above them as it grows louder, and louder and they all duck for cover.

* ProperlyParanoid: When Tommy, Gibson, and Alex manage to board a destroyer, Gibson stays on deck while Tommy and Alex position themselves near the door, in case the destroyer is hit and starts sinking. [[spoiler:These minor actions are instrumental in saving their lives when the destroyer is in fact hit and sunk by torpedo.]]

** On the German side, the Stukas were usually seen dive bombing in groups of three, and every time a lone He-111 bomber was seen, it was being escorted by only two Me-109s. {{Justified|Trope}}, because RAF standard tactical formation at this stage of war was the three plane 'vic', while the Luftwaffe standard fighter formation was the four plane ''Schwarm'' of two ''Rotten''. The He 111 was escorted by a Rotte. [[ShownTheirWork The bombers used the three plane]] ''Kette'' formation.

* SlidingScaleOfVisualsVersusDialogue: On the visual end. The film is very minimalist in terms of dialogue, and especially during the most intense moments. Combined with the deliberate use of FlatCharacter characterization, the movie tried to bring the audience in to the mindset of the soldiers.

* SteelEardrums: Averted in the scene where a character dives under water to avoid the explosion of the bombs aimed at the minesweeper, only to hold his ears from the concussion.

* TickTockTune: Music/HansZimmer's score features the ticking of a clock. He reportedly incorporated recordings of a pocket watch owned by directer Christopher Nolan into the score.

** [[spoiler:Towards the end, a destroyer crossing the Channel with survivors is sunk by a bomber, leaking oil over the sea. When the shot-down bomber crashes into the oil, it catches on fire, with unlucky survivors caught in the middle. The camera lingers on one poor bastard hiding under the water; when forced to surface for lack of oxygen he burns to death.]]

* ObligatoryWarCrimeScene: It's one thing to target opposing soldiers and warships, but [[spoiler:dive-bombing and sinking a hospital ship full of wounded people and civilians shows just how precious little the Nazis care about the Geneva Conventions.]]

* MonochromeCasting: The film was criticised for this, although one or two French soldiers of African descent do appear onscreen.

The cast includes Fionn Whitehead as BEF soldier Tommy, Music/HarryStyles (in his acting debut) as Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders BEF soldier Alex, Aneurin Barnard as Gibson, Creator/TomHardy as RAF pilot Farrier, Creator/CillianMurphy as a BEF soldier, Creator/KennethBranagh as Royal Navy Commander Bolton, Creator/MarkRylance as Mr. Dawson, and Creator/JamesDArcy as BEF Colonel Winnant. It was filmed on the actual location, [[ShownTheirWork with some actual vessels that were used during the evacuation]].

** The Destroyer turns into one when a torpedo hits.

* "The Air", set over a period of one hour, with RAF pilots Farrier and Collins flying a sortie over the channel.

The cast includes Fionn Whitehead as BEF soldier Tommy, Music/HarryStyles as Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders BEF soldier Alex, Aneurin Barnard as Gibson, Creator/TomHardy as RAF pilot Farrier, Creator/CillianMurphy as a BEF soldier, Creator/KennethBranagh as Royal Navy Commander Bolton, Creator/MarkRylance as Mr. Dawson, and Creator/JamesDArcy as BEF Colonel Winnant. It was filmed on the actual location, [[ShownTheirWork with some actual vessels that were used during the evacuation]].

** Averted. French soldiers are not given much screentime, but the fact that they're [[YouShallNotPass holding ground]] against German soldiers and tanks in and around the city is brought up by Commander Bolton. Several are seen defending a barricade that blocks a street that leads directly to the beach.

* DiveUnderTheExplosion: Deconstructed. Although several soldiers manage to evade being burned by a flaming oil slick by diving under the water, it is only a matter of seconds before they are forced to resurface for air. The less fortunate of them promptly burn to death while ''swimming in the sea''.

** After over an hour of groaning tension and anxiety, the sudden appearance of Elgar's "Nimrod" when Bolton spots the incoming fleet of civilian ships comes as a surprise and relief. Then it's back to the tension and anxiety.
** Tommy runs away from a shoot-out between German and French troops, only to find himself on a beach with soldiers calmly lined up awaiting evacuation.
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: The soldier picked up by Mr. Dawson has this reaction when [[spoiler:he causes George to suffer a serious and ultimately fatal head-wound during a struggle.]]

** [[spoiler:George heroically chooses to go help evacuate soldiers despite only being seventeen, but only really manages to rescue Cillian Murphy's character before dying rather anticlimactically soon after a fall in a struggle with the latter. Although, his friend makes sure his death wasn't All For Nothing.]]

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: The Dutch fisherman who owns the stranded trawler disappears after he goes on board to start the engine.