Recently, I was trying to order a DVD of the Christopher Nolan film "Dunkirk", starring Kenneth Branagh and Harry Styles. As it was not then available, I bought a DVD copy of the 2004 BBC TV series of the same name, starring Benedict Cumberbatch, among others. I haven't yet bought the film on DVD, but followed a friend's advice and watched it in the cinema. It was good advice. The film needs to be seen in an auditorium, not a living room; only then can you appreciate the amazing sound and visual effects.
For those people who have seen either or neither, I think it worth doing a comparison of the two. They are both fine productions, but in two distinctly different ways. Put succinctly: the BBC series is informative and factual, while the film is powerfully and profoundly experiential.
The TV series consists of three episodes: Retreat, Evacuation and Deliverance. The first episode details how Captain Bill Tennant of the Admiralty began the organisation of Operation Dynamo to evacuate the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) from Dunkirk, or at least some of them. Simon Russell Beale delivers a splendid performance as Winston Churchill defying Cabinet members, most prominently Lord Halifax, who want to negotiate peace with Hitler. It also features the Wormhoudt massacre of captured British soldiers by the Waffen SS. A number of such massacres happened in 1940 and later, but this is an effective presentation which stands for them all.
The Evacuation episode is about just that: by Day 6 of the evacuation, two-thirds of the BEF have been evacuated. The role of the famous "little ships" is highlighted by the fate of the cockleship Renown which, with a largely civilian crew, successfully rescues a number of soldiers from the Dunkirk beaches, carries them safely across the Channel, but is later destroyed by a mine. It was one of 200 or more ships sunk by the Luftwaffe; about 3500 soldiers and sailors are said to have died during the evacuation.
The final episode acknowledges the heroic contribution of the rearguard troops who held the Germans at bay for so long. Benedict Cumberbatch plays Lt. Jimmy Langley of the Coldstream Guards, who is wounded and captured by the Germans. There is a memorable scene where Langley and a German soldier exchange gifts. The German gives Langley a cigarette, while Langley, to his huge amusement, presents his captor with "marmalade" (jam). By Day 10, all unwounded BEF have been evacuated. Captain Tennant takes a train journey during which he collapses with exhaustion.
The three episodes are absorbing and informative, without being didactic. I would have liked to see more details of the massacres of British soldiers, and more details provided about the contribution of the French Army to the evacuation. By Day 10, only French troops were holding the Dunkirk perimeter. Another thing not mentioned is the fate of the 80, 000 French and British troops who were left behind in Dunkirk. However, it has to be said that it is just not possible for a TV series or film to give all the facts about an event in History - that's what books are for.
The film, which covers the same wet and sandy ground, takes a far less informative approach, and some critics have been very unkind. Here is the jaded view of Richard Brody, in the New Yorker:
"Nolan's sense of memory and of history is as flattened-out and untroubled as his sense of psychology and of character."
"It's not always easy to know what's going on in Christopher Nolan's Dunkirk-which makes the film seem all the more convincing as an evocation of war."
These two differing views have some validity, in my view. I certainly am in two minds about the film. On the credit side, it is superb at conveying the action scenes. When an evacuation vessel is hit by a torpedo and causes panic among soldiers and crew, I was looking round for the exit. As Christopher Hooton says in The Independent:
"The Spitfire dogfights in the sky are particularly gorgeous, unfolding most of the time from a cockpit or first-person perspective and making it feel like you're playing a video game 10 generations of console into the future. On land, the sea foam shivers on the beaches around the dead, even the howling wind not seeming to want to let the soldiers escape, while at sea the desperate situation on sinking destroyer boats is depicted with gasping grit, the camera being flipped on its side and stationed in unusual places in order to capture the mania as the troops struggle to extricate themselves from the water's embrace."
I endorse that opinion, but have a number of reservations. The beach scenes are thinly populated with troops, and look more like a Territorial Army exercise, rather than the desperate exodus of a beleaguered army. Kenneth Branagh plays Commander Bolton, the pier master during the evacuation. I found it remarkable that Bolton manages to do so much, evacuating over 300,000 men as the only senior naval officer on the beach. Obviously, this is artistic licence, and Bolton symbolises all the Naval officers on duty, but I found his dominance of the action irritating. Another jarring factor happens when a civilian sailor, captaining his own small craft, Mr Dawson (Mark Rylance) rescues a traumatised soldier (Cillian Murphy) from a wreck. The soldier turns violent and injures Mr Dawson's son's friend, George, so badly that he dies of his injuries. Incredibly, Mr Dawson does not turn the soldier over to the authorities when he makes his final return journey to Dover. I realise that Christopher Nolan meant this as a sympathetic portrayal of the effects of PTSD on soldiers in combat, but, to me, it beggars belief that the soldier could walk free. Neither the BBC production or the film acknowledge the contribution of the contingent of Indian troops who maintained their discipline during the retreat to Dunkirk, unlike some BEF units whose morale and discipline broke down completely.
One good thing that both productions have in common is that they convey a profound sense of relief when the BEF is finally evacuated. This is not just as a conclusion to the film, but, for British audiences of all ages, a thankful feeling of reassurance that the BEF really was evacuated intact. Their escape kept Britain in the war against Hitler, and many returned to help in the liberation of Europe in 1944. The Dunkirk evacuation deserves to be remembered by all generations; both these productions assist in doing that.
For those interested in buying the DVDs of either one or the other of these presentations: I recommend that you buy both.
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