Dunkirk

In France a British corporal has to take responsibility for his unit when their officers are killed. He must get his men to the beach. At the same time, in England, ordinary people are called to Operation Dynamo: every boat that could cross the Channel and bring the soldiers back. Some volunteer and some do not want to go. Leslie Norman tells the 1940 evacuation on two tracks: soldiers at the front and civilians at home. The narrative does not present the event as a victory but shows how a defeat was managed. The waiting on the beach is the strongest part of the film, queuing under bombardment. John Mills plays the corporal, with Richard Attenborough and Bernard Lee among the civilians. The film was made eighteen years after the war for an audience who remembered the event, and so rests on reminding rather than explaining. Who it's for: Viewers who like British war films, Second World War narratives, and black-and-white productions of the period. Who it's not for: The pace is slow and there are a great many characters. Women are also almost absent.