New Dunkirk movie to be made

Blimey!

 

"Calgary veteran who survived Dunkirk causes a stir at movie premiere" (Global News,July22,2017)

"I never thought I would see that again. It was just like I was there again,” he said.

Theatre goers watching the premiere of “Dunkirk” at Calgary’s Westhills Cinemas on Friday night got a surprise encounter with a 97-year -old man who was at the battle in 1940.

The Battle of Dunkirk took place during the Second World War between the Allies and Nazi Germany in Dunkirk, France.

Calgarian Ken Sturdy, dressed in a jacket adorned with medals, viewed the movie and was impressed by what he saw.

“It didn’t have a lot of dialogue. It didn’t need any of the dialogue because it told the story visually and it was so real.”

The movie Dunkirk tells the terrifying story of the evacuation of allied troops from the French city of Dunkirk. It’s thrilling entertainment for most viewers, but for just a handful of people in the world, it contains images that bring back memories of surviving Dunkirk.

“I was in those little boats picking them out of the water,” Sturdy said.

He was a 20-year-old signal man with the Royal Navy helping evacuated soldiers reach waiting boats from the chaos on the beach.

“I had the privilege of seeing that film tonight and I am saddened by it because of what happened on that beach,” Sturdy said.

More than 68,000 British soldiers were captured or killed during the battle and retreat and over 300,000 were rescued over nine days.

The harrowing scenes took Sturdy back to a time when he was on those small boats. Sturdy said the beach was filled with terrified soldiers.

“I was 20 when that happened, but watching the movie, I could see my old friends again and a lot of them died later in the war,” Sturdy said. “I went on convoys after that in the North Atlantic. I had lost so many of my buddies. One of my mates was taken prisoner. He wasn’t killed on the beach. They marched him up to Poland. And he spent five years in a German prisoner camp.”

Other people at the Calgary premiere were honoured to encounter such a decorated veteran at the theatre. Many gathered around Sturdy to shake his hand and offer their thanks.

“At the end of the movie I ran down the stairs and he was just wiping his tears away and I was able to shake his hand and give him a proper salute,” Kelly Kwamsoos said while fighting back tears.

“I really hope that the younger generations can understand what it was like and really count their blessings. We’re so lucky,” Kwamsoos said.“I really hope that the younger generations can understand what it was like and really count their blessings. We’re so lucky,” Kwamsoos said.

Sturdy hopes the movie sends a message to a new audience of the sad nature of war and our apparent inability to avoid it.

“Don’t just go to the movie for entertainment. Think about it. And when you become adults, keep thinking, “ Sturdy advised.

“Tonight I cried because it’s never the end. It won’t happen. We the human species are so intelligent and we do such astonishing things. We can fly to the moon but we still do stupid things,” Sturdy said. “So when I see the film tonight, I see it with a certain kind of sadness. Because what happened back then in 1940, it’s not the end.”
by Carolyn Kury de Castillo Reporter Global News

 

The comparison was not meant to be flattering. The Daily Mail is a tabloid rag without much credibility.

I think USA today is really a centrist, maybe slightly skewing to the left, newspaper but not in the top 10 in terms of quality writing or independent journalism. 3rd in circulation, I find it to be the McPaper I only lightly read when in a U.S. hotel. The biggest difference I see between US papers and their UK/Canadian equivalents is how highly insular they are.

 

Yeah that's about the only time I read it, when travelling and when it's complementary with hotel stays. What's the competing paper with the Daily Mail? Is it a tabloid rag as well?

It appears that the USA Today does very little investigation into military matters, or war movie reviews either. It had several articles asking the same questions, why weren't there any characters of color, and why was there next to no women in speaking roles in "Saving Private Ryan, Band of Brothers", and both of Clint Eastwood's PTO movies, "Flags of Our Fathers" and "Letters From Iwo Jima". It's amazing sometimes what gets put into print. During the lead up to The Persian Gulf War, Part 2 they had an article about why US Army divisions were numbered as they were, ie, why they were not all in numerical order, why there were several 1st divisions (1st Cavalry, 1st Infantry, 1st Armored) and why were numbered so high (82nd & 101st Airborne), and why the Marine Corps divisions were numerically ordered (1st - 4th). I guess that they had some merit in their questions, for those not as versed in such things, but at first glance I thought "WTF" when seeing the title of the article. Maybe the same guy asked the same questions (no political correctness by leaving out black and female leading speaking parts in the current Dunkirk movie that brought up such silliness in the above mentioned US made flix.

 

What

 

Political correctness and rational thought are two very different things.

 

An interview with the surviving vet.

Calgary veteran who survived Dunkirk causes a stir at movie premiere

 

Ron,

Did you ever face travelling in the infamous: "40 hommes et 8 chevaux" cars in North Africa when you arrived?

best wishes

 

Richard

The short answer is "Yes", as my posting on the BBC People's War demonstrated:

The time was April 1943, and I was a 19-year-old very green wireless operator, who had just arrived in Algiers in north Africa as reinforcement to General Anderson's 1st Army.

After spending a few weeks in a transit camp at nearby Cap Matifou, I found that a few others and I were to be posted to a light anti-aircraft regiment in Tunis. Our method of transportation there turned out to be cattle trucks on an antiquated railway line.

The train itself caused us some amusement, if that’s the right word. The wagon to which we were allocated bore the sign ‘6 Chevaux au 20 Hommes’ stencilled on the side. We were destined to sit on bare, broken floorboards for the best part of three days.

Occasionally, without warning, the train would stop, and one of the officers aboard would run down the length of the train calling out, ‘We’re here for an hour if you want to do anything.’ ‘Anything’ could include cooking a meal, digging oneself a small hole in the desert scrub or buying hard-boiled eggs from the Arabs who appeared as if from nowhere.

At the end of the first day, the train clanked to a halt, and we all clambered out stiffly to make our beds under the stars.

I had already made friends with another young chap, whom I had first met back in England — a Londoner, like me — and we bedded down next to each other. As we ate our evening’s rations, my friend broke the silence.

‘You know, Ron, this has got to be the worst moment of my life, eating a meal of cold, uncooked bully beef and sleeping on the sand out in the open.’

The joke was that I personally was in seventh heaven.

The brilliant stars in the jet-black sky under which I now lay were the most beautiful sight I had ever seen in my own short life. The romance of actually being in the desert was manna from heaven for this particular cockney boy who, until he went in the army, had never been further from home than Brighton.

As the war progressed, I was to savour many experiences, some good, others not so good, and my travels were to take me to Sicily, Italy, Austria, Germany and Egypt. No memory, however, has stayed with me as vividly as that first night in the desert.

I have often thought about my friend’s remark and wondered if he later had occasion to change his mind about ‘the worst night of his life’!

Ron

 

I suppose it can be difficult to get the right balance in portraying real wartime events but this one seems to have made a reasonable attempt at it. Perhaps it could have made a bit better impact if it had been made in black and white (such as 'The Longest Day' or 'Schidler's List') but otherwise OK.

 

For many years I held the same view of B&W vs colour photography from the wartime period. I was the classic traditionalist. I've changed my view on it however after seeing an interview with a Canadian wartime photographer. Essentially, he said if he had had colour technology he would certainly have used it, without reservation. His wartime memories were obviously all in colour and only the technical limitations prevented him from depicting it in that realistic manner. He understood the "nostalgia" factor for those who had spent decades viewing nothing but B&W photos and relating to the war in that manner but he completely disagreed with sentiment overruling logic. If the guy taking the shots felt that way then who am I to argue.

Owen will certainly weigh on this as his opinions on colourized pics are well known.

Makes one wonder if the first photos of the U.S. Civil War were scoffed at by the traditionalists who preferred the sketches and paintings from previous conflicts.

 

Guardian review of Dunkirk ....

Bloodless, boring and empty: Christopher Nolan's Dunkirk left me cold

 

I, for one, am shocked that a writer for The Grauniad can't see the appeal.
Seriously lacking in diversity and too many British flags...

Edit: having now read it--the reviewer has completely missed the point of Nolan focusing on just a microcosm to imply the microcosm and he's missed the point of excluding back stories. He's basically complaining that the film needs to be more conventional. Incredibly, he does manage to shoehorn a complaint about diversity in; we ought to be thankful that Brexit didn't get dragged in.

Edit2: They never fail to disappoint: Dunkirk reveals the spirit that has driven Brexit: humiliation | Rafael Behr

Dunkirk reveals the spirit that has driven Brexit: humiliation
The national shame of 1940’s disorderly retreat from Europe was felt again when Britain joined the EEC in 1973. And that emotion still burns

• Rafael Behr is a Guardian columnist -- Of course he is!

 

Probably from the same people who criticize the lack of gender equality in fatherhood.

 

Have been meaning to buy one of these for a while:

 

Since being introduced to mark Kermode by a friend, I've come to trust his judgment almost entirely.

I've watched numerous interviews with Nolan on his publicity tour, but this is easily the best--just him to screen:

 

We enjoyed it

 

Saw the film yesterday and have to say I was enthralled.
For depicting the shocked and demoralised troops this was certainly achieved. I think anyone undergoing a headlong retreat and constant bombardment, air attacks yet still some units maintained cohesion and officers maintained discipline without being to Blimpish. Would happily watch it again.
Yes, some niggles, the empty train, how the Spitfire out of fuel still managed to attack the He111, never running out of ammo, where he found the chalk to always write the time left from a shattered fuel gauge (where had that bullet gone?); the Bf109 with clearly the Merlin engined cowling and the downed Spitfire blazing at the end with no engine... but minor niggles compared to the great intertwined story lines. The old chap in the little ship, the guys running away yet still getting back to the beach time and again, and the RAF shown as being vital and for "being there" when many accounts said there was no air cover.... no, saving them for the Battle of Britain. Excellent way of telling a hugely complex story.
I recommend it