A masterpiece of recent cinema

Rating: 9/10 (18 March 2008)

There is a historical discrepancy in this movie, for which I remove a star: the sailor in the Dunkirk Beaches relates that the Lancastria had floundered the day before, carrying with it 3,000 lives. The Lancastria did not really sink off Dunkirk but close to St. Nazaire and about two weeks later during Operation Ariel (try wikipedia.org) This event was a smaller -but still large- evacuation after General Weygand's plan, to counterattack the Germans northwards from the River Somme, failed and the British and French forces were pushed into the northwest coast of France. This was perhaps the biggest loss for the Brits during the War of France, because in comparison to the success of Dunkirk, an important number of troops was caught prisoners inside the city, the Germans having stormed in before they could embark. I highly recommend reading Churchill's War Memoirs if this chapter of history is of your interest. This remarkable and admirable leader won the Nobel price for his work, which is a way more valid and fair award than the highly criticized Oscar (which in my frank opinion under-rated such a delightful movie).