The Movie Dunkirk

I went and watched Dunkirk a few nights ago. Being a history buff, especially anything to do with Wars and Military Campains,I have two complaints.

First, the movie begins with th entirety of the British Expoditionary Force trapped between the Northern English Channel and the oncoming German Forces. That leaves out a major part of this story, that being, how did the British find themselves in this predicament.

As heroic the rescue of the majority of the soldiers was, it was an equally appalling saga as to how these events came about.

Second, you could not understand half of the dialogue. In between the heavy British accents and the booming sound in the Cinemark, it was like watching a Foriegn Movie.

How about subtitles?

When I watch movies at home on my Direct TV, I always have captions on. It is amazing how much more you can understand.

One particular movie was Master and Commander, Far Side Of The World. I never appreciated that movie to it's fullest untill I watched it with closed captions. Just listening to all of the background chatter was a history lesson in its self as you learned the complex procedures involved in sailing a ship.

Back to Dunkirk, it does capture the fear and the heroism that can cause men to either rise above their dire circumstances or shrink into a hapless state of despair.
I haven't seen it yet, but after seeing what you wrote about the subtitles, I will probably wait until I can watch it at home.

A wonderful client of mine suggested I watch Broadchurch. (seasons 1 and 2 are on Netflix)

David Tennant's Scottish accent is SO FREAKIN THICK on this amazing show, that I didn't know if I was just too old to understand it, or I just had gotten accustomed to his accent from Doctor Who (standard British that most American's can understand). I had to turn the subtitles on just to get what they were talking about. (All I could get was him shouting "Millar" (the other detective's name is Miller). So much of the story depends on what they are actually saying. By the way, the music is great as well.
Season 3 is out there, maybe on demand, but I don't have cable. It follows a sexual assault case, and it's just so intense, I'm not sure I can watch it right now. I've watched all the SVU episodes, and handled those just fine. But man, the woman is just so severely traumatized, it's really difficult to watch.
beguilingvoice's Avatar
My ciniplex offers CC on thursday

I think is's 120 mins. He had a story to tell, His story of Dunkirk. Wait for the Unrated verison that the studios will put out at christmas.
Special BLURAYS make a shit load of money
James1588's Avatar
I went and watched Dunkirk a few nights ago. Being a history buff, especially anything to do with Wars and Military Campains,I have two complaints.

First, the movie begins with th entirety of the British Expoditionary Force trapped between the Northern English Channel and the oncoming German Forces. That leaves out a major part of this story, that being, how did the British find themselves in this predicament. ... Originally Posted by Jackie S
I saw it last week. Well-made, I thought, although obviously depressing. But about your comment, that the back story was left out: there's only so much screen time. Whenever the cinematic narrative takes up, there's always more story earlier yet. I mean, to explain WW II itself, you have to go back to the settlement of WW I, which led to it. And so on and so on.

I guess they could have put in some dialogue among senior officers to fill in some back story very quickly.
James1588's Avatar
... Second, you could not understand half of the dialogue. In between the heavy British accents and the booming sound in the Cinemark, it was like watching a Foriegn Movie.

How about subtitles?

... Originally Posted by Jackie S
Good point. I had some difficulty understanding speech for the first few minutes, but after that, it was OK for me. I think the ear needs a little time to adapt. And the "booming sound:" I totally agree. That's one of several reasons why I very seldom see movies in movie theaters these days. They confuse abusively-loud audio with entertainment.