Dunkirk To Scale Back Crappy Exposition

One of the main problems with a typical Christopher Nolan movie is the dense, concrete-thick exposition.  It’s always funny to see pseudo intellectuals ‘interpret’ that, along with grim faced actors, interpret it as more proof that Nolan is a genius.

In an interview with Premiere though, it appears that dialogue is going to be stripped down in Dunkirk, Nolan’s latest movie.  The movie is going to be more of a kinetic survival piece.  Nolan also added;

“The film is told from three points of view. The air (planes), the land (on the beach) and the sea (the evacuation by the navy). For the soldiers embarked in the conflict, the events took place on different timelines.

On land, some stayed one week stuck on the beach. On the water, the events lasted a maximum day; and if you were flying to Dunkirk, the British spitfires would carry an hour of fuel. To mingle these different versions of history, one has to mix the temporal strata. Hence the complicated structure; Even if the story, once again, is very simple.

This is an essential moment in the history of the Second World War. If this evacuation had not been a success, Great Britain would have been obliged to capitulate. And the whole world would have been lost, or would have known a different fate: the Germans would undoubtedly have conquered Europe, the US would not have returned to war.

As it happened, the real reason the evacuation of Dunkirk was successful was because von Bock’s forces (those tasked to deal with the BEF) were simply exhausted.  His tanks were broke down, they were out of fuel and freak flooding meant that even if he had the forces necessary to advance, they would’ve been confined to pave roads, which were barricaded and mined.

The rest (and majority) of the German forces were forced to deal with the French, who contrary to popular myth, were giving the Germans most trouble and posing the biggest threat.