The photographic film Dunkirk shifts between a trio of dissimilar time periods and involves dissimilar groups of people. The film’s opening text reads that the British and French armies have soldiers stranded at Dunkirk, France due to the reason that they were pushed back by enemy forces. They wait as they hope they will be rescued, nor not forgotten until they die.
The first period of time, “ The Mole (One Week),” begins by when a squad of British soldiers are shown searching the quiet streets of France. As they are in desperate looking for supplies, for they are fired upon by the hiding German forces. All, and except for one are killed: the surviving British soldier, Tommy (Perf. Fionn Whitehead). Luckily, he escapes the gunfire and is saved by French forces.
When he arrives at the beach, for he is in awe of the thousands of British soldiers edging the beaches, and waiting to be evacuated. Not to mention, the countless number of dead soldiers scattered throughout. As he attempts to find a place to relieve himself, for juvenile soldier, Gibson (Perf. Aneurin Barnard) buried a soldier. Tommy is then quickly seen approaching the soldier and aids him. Later on, German Stuka dive bomber planes fly over the soldiers edging the beaches and begin to release bombs. As many are bombarded by the bombs, for Tommy prepares himself and the bombs fortunately miss him.
Subsequently, Tommy and Gibson find a wounded soldier with no-one to carry him. As a result, the soldiers pretend to be medics in order to pass through and get the wounded soldier onboard the medical ship that tends to the wounded. However, they take advantage of the soldier as they want to be evacuated. But, under orders they are denied entry. Following the setback, they decide to hide out by the mole: the concrete structure separating the water on both sides. They plan to wait until the next vessel arrives.
But, the ship they were seen earlier attempting to board is sunk by German aircraft, and a soldier is then seen jumping out of the ship. The soldier’s name is Alex (Perf. Harry Styles), and is saved by the two soldiers from being crushed as the ship was closing in closer to the mole. In the time-being, Commander Bolton (Perf.
Kenneth Branagh) of the Royal Navy is seen conversing with Colonel Winnant (Perf. James D’Arcy) about negotiating rescuing the soldiers with the promise of a safe return home. Furthermore, Tommy, Alex, and Gibson gather on a British Red Cross vessel. However, Gibson stays on-deck as he looks uneasy. As the situation seems to calm, so Tommy and Alex drink tea and bite on bread with red jam. But, the situation escalates as the ship is hit by a torpedo, and causes water to flood the lower deck in a matter of seconds.
As the ship sinks, Gibson opens the hatch for the struggling soldiers, but only a handful escaped including Tommy and Alex. They hold onto a rope tied to a small boat back to the shore. Back on the shore, for surviving British soldiers go along with Scottish soldiers heading to a boat. As they hide in the boat located on the Germans’ land, for they are shot upon by German soldiers using the boat to better their aim. The shots bring water in one by one, and in order to balance the weight evenly, for a volunteer is needed to exit the boat. Alex accuses Gibson of being a German spy because he has never conversed and as a result, he reveals himself as a French and buried the real Gibson (back at the beach) in order to be evacuated. Everyone makes it out, but for Gibson, and drowns. Equally important, the second period of time, “ The Sea (One Day),” takes place as the Royal Navy starts taking over peoples’ boats to rescue the soldiers at Dunkirk.
One mariner, for Mr. Dawson (Perf. Mark Rylance) however willingly takes his own boat along with his juvenile son named Peter (Perf. Tom Glyne-Carney). As a last-minute decision, for their seventeen-year-old helper named George (Perf.
Barry Keoghan) decides he wants to go along. They find a shell-shocked soldier (Perf. Cillian Murphy) struggling to breathe in the water. The soldier refuses to talk; he refuses the tea in George’s hand. When the soldier is aware they are heading to Dunkirk, so he attempts to take control of the boat. This struggle leads to George falling down the stairs to the lower deck of the boat hitting his head hard, for he is later found dead.
Of equal importance, the last period of time, “ The Air (One Hour),” is based on a trio of Spitfire pilots who act as air support to the troops stranded at Dunkirk. The squadron leader, pilots Farrier (Perf. Tom Hardy) and Collins (Perf. Jack Lowden) spot German fighter planes scouring the sky and apprehend them.
As a result, the squadron leader is shot down. Farrier’s fuel gauge broke, so he keeps in mind the amount of fuel he has when taking down enemy planes. Correspondingly, Collins’ plane is shot down and heads into the water. In the water, for he is struggling to escape as the cockpit is jammed and gradually floods with water over time. Mr. Dawson reaches Collins’ plane in time and the pilot is saved by Peter. They bring the pilot onboard the boat.
As a result, this leads to a conversation with Mr. Dawson and Collins learns that Peter’s older brother was a RAF pilot, but died in the beginning weeks of the start of the war. Not to mention, for this is where all the dissimilar groups come together. Soldiers locate a minesweeper and attempt to approach it, but is hit by a German bomber. This makes the water fill with oil, so soldiers swim quickly in fear of being ignited, and which it then is burning and exploding several men. Shortly after, Farrier shoots down the plane. During this time, Mr.
Dawson pull men onboard, and which happened to include Tommy and Alex. When they go downstairs, for they are reminded to be mindful of George, so Alex notifies Peter that George has died. Subsequently, the nameless squadron leader ironically asks how George is doing, and Peter lies to him that George will be okay as he saw what the truth will do to the pilot.
Adding on, a German bomber attempts to take out the mole, but Farrier takes it down and lands his plane close to the shore and sets it on fire. German forces then captured him. Peter sends a photograph of George to the local press to be recognized. It was a successful rescue as high-ranking officials only planned to rescue 30, 000 soldiers. Fortunately, 338, 000 soldiers were rescued.
Everyone flees and Commander Bolton stays on his free will to ensure the French are tended to. Back home (England) all soldiers are sent home by means of a train. Alex, for who seems uneasy elucidates to Tommy that they will be “ spit on,” when they return. However, surprised by Churchill’s statement, yet people walk along the train and instead applaud them.
