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DUNKIRK....Rave Review...
Dear Viewers,
Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk opened last Friday to
massive crowds and rave reviews. By the end of the weekend, the movie had
grossed more than $100 million worldwide, $24 of which came from my wife
and me. Dunkirk, in
my opinion, is an entertaining film and a fine diversion, but entirely
underwhelming and a missed opportunity.
Dunkirk is
everything you’d expect from 21st-century Hollywood. There’s plenty of
action, some epic panoramas, and more than one plotline crafted to tug
the heartstrings. Add in (another) superb score from Hans Zimmer, and Dunkirk is everything
Hollywood tells us we want. But although it is viscerally stimulating, Dunkirk lacks depth, meaning
and substance. There’s no historic context, nothing to stimulate or
challenge the intellect, nothing meaningful to take away. For a film so
obviously connected to an explicit historical event, there is a
surprising dearth of
history. May 1940 was arguably the most important month of World War II,
one that included other momentous developments. Yet Dunkirk somehow fails to explore
the broader significance of the rescue of more than 330,000 Allied
soldiers, and it fails to convey, even faintly, the colossal stakes of
Operation Dynamo for Britain, France, Germany and, indeed, humanity.
The biggest disappointment, and the least surprising, was the failure to
highlight the miracles that surrounded Operation Dynamo. For me, Dunkirk
ranks in the top five on the list of Britain’s all-time greatest
miracles. The most incredible facet of Dunkirk doesn’t relate to one
event. Rather, it’s the fact that
three highly unlikely events CONVERGED at exactly the right
time
First, there was the bizarre decision by Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt
to halt the advance of German panzer tanks when they were less than 10
miles from the defenseless British and French forces. Seventy-five years
have passed and historians are still debating the rationale behind this
decision. Whatever the field marshal was thinking, the two-day recess
allowed French and British forces to make crucial improvements to their
perimeter defenses. And when the tanks fired back up, these hasty
improvements were enough to hold back the Germans. But it wasn’t just the
engines on Rundestedt’s tanks that unexpectedly went quiet.
So did the English Channel. For nine days, this capricious and
often-dangerous sea passage went, to borrow a phrase from Britain’s English
Heritage website, “unusually calm.” The Daily Telegraph wrote on July 8, 1940,
“Those who are accustomed to the Channel TESTIFY TO THE STRANGENESS OF
THIS CALM; they are deeply impressed by the phenomenon of nature by which
it became possible for tiny craft to go back and forth in safety” (emphasis
added).
If that isn’t fodder for an epic scene, what is?
Finally, as the English Channel turned “millpond flat,” the skies above
Flanders erupted. For more than a day, torrential rain and low-hanging
clouds grounded the German Air Force.
“I have talked to officers and men who have gotten safely back to
England, and all of them tell of these two phenomena,” continued the Daily Telegraph article. “The
first was the great storm which broke over Flanders on Tuesday, May 28,
and the other was the great calm which settled on the English Channel
during the days following.”
Imagine it: Between May 24 and June 4, not
one, but THREE extremely
unlikely events converged to allow the successful evacuation
of 338,000 soldiers and the survival of Britain. Let’s say you’re from
Oklahoma. This would be like learning you’d inherited $1 million,
receiving an invitation to dine with President Donald Trumpet at the
White House, and watching the Oklahoma City Thunder win an NBA
Championship—all
in the same week. That’s what happened in Dunkirk in May
1940.
Imagine the intellectual and emotional experience that the creativity and
resources of Christopher Nolan could
have created, if he only valued the history enough to communicate it
honestly. Imagine if Nolan studied the history of Dunkirk for the lessons
it actually furnishes,
and not the lessons he wants it to furnish. It’s true; Dunkirk is a
dramatic story about bravery and sacrifice and having hope even when
circumstances seem hopeless. But far more than that, Dunkirk is about the
miraculous convergence of three
extremely unlikely events, and the Being who orchestrated that
convergence. Forget Harry Stiles, God is the protagonist of Dunkirk.
But why would God intervene like this? There are a few answers, one of
which can again be found in the historical record. England’s king
responded to the dire situation by calling for a day of national prayer
on May 26. Across the nation, British citizens, the Church of England,
the Catholic Church, Jews and other religions appealed to God for help.
The King and Queen attended a service at Westminster Abby, along with
Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands, and the prime minister and other
British leaders.
“In the cities and towns, leaders of civic life attended church on this
Day of National Prayer at the head of their people,” the Times wrote. “From
peaceful village churches in the remote countryside the same prayers were
offered, just as in these fateful hours the same thoughts are in people’s
minds.” Afterward, the archbishop of Canterbury called on everyone to
pause at noon every day and pray for deliverance.
Imagine an entire nation, millions of people, simultaneously beseeching
God for deliverance. What a scene that would be! Now imagine if
Christopher Nolan not only depicted this national day of prayer, but also
connected it with the miracles that began to unfold on the Channel and in
the port of Dunkirk. Think about it: What if Christopher Nolan had
reflected historical reality and actually
made God the protagonist of Dunkirk?
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