DUNKIRK. I know, I said I was only going to write reviews of movies that I recommend for Cinema Saturday, but, this one is getting a lot of media attention, and it was one of my adding ‘life to my years’ activities. Much as I felt like hanging around the house last Saturday, my husband and I dragged each other out of the house, stopped by a friend’s yard sale to say ‘hi’ and to cheer them on, then had a movie-date.
Watch the trailer, then come back and finish reading my review ….
Okay, you’ve now seen pretty much the entire movie.
VERY intense, good exercise for your heart, but not much effort was spent on character development. Sir David Mark Rylance Water’s portrayal of Mr. Dawson, one of the civilians who jumped in their boats and sailed out from the small seaside town of Weymouth in the UK to rescue the stranded Allied soldiers on the beach at Dunkirk, France (180+ nautical miles up the English Channel), was the standout for me.
The true ‘star’ of the movie, though, was the heart of the civilians – the ordinary people who risked their lives to save the lives of others, and, by their efforts, changed the course of World War II. Without them, 338,226 of the over 400,000 stranded forces would have been lost, and there very well may not have been a sufficient force to overcome the fascism of the Hitler/Nazi regime. You could say that those ‘ordinary’ people saved the world.
As I watch video of the ‘ordinary’ people stepping up in the wake of Hurricanes Harvey and Irma to save and help their neighbors, it brings the importance of ‘ADDING LIFE TO THE YEARS OF OTHERS‘ to present light. I realize, that the efforts of the civilians memorialized in DUNKIRK may have saved the world, and the efforts in response to the recent hurricanes is not ‘saving the world,’ but, to the people who are struggling in the wake of these hurricanes, those rescuers ARE saving their world, and they are all true heroes.
Sir Rylance was interviewed by the Huff Post after the opening of DUNKIRK, and succinctly described the underlying theme of the movie, and, in my opinion, the efforts of ALL civilians who step out of their comfort zones to help others or to make a difference – it is “an example of very humble, insignificant people making a difference when they all join in and contribute,” adding “I think that in today’s world you can feel that your vote, your life, doesn’t make any difference – that the government and the big corporations have got it sealed up. Or that there’s not much point getting involved. Even one man in his canoe goes over because he has a seat behind him, and, if all of those civilians hadn’t made that effort, then we wouldn’t have had an army to defend ourselves in the Second World War against fascism.”
If you keep that theme in mind when viewing DUNKIRK, you will see the depth and spirit of the film.
LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK!
