Dunkirk Timeline [SPOILERS]

The 2017 World War II thriller about the evacuation of British and Allied troops from Dunkirk beach.
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This will haunt me forever :shock:

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Farrier shot down a Stuka at the end, not a Messerschmitt :P

Also, the moment Collins goes down, we stay with Farrier's AIR perspective. We see Collins crash, we think he's alright when he waves and we continue following Farrier. So the moment Collins goes down, he joins the SEA perspective. Hence why it takes a while before we catch up with him. He's sort of put on hold actually. Since we first have to see the Shivering Soldier lose his shit and accidentally mortally wound George before we can catch up with Collins getting picked up by the Moonstone.

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Cocal wrote:Those timejumps in the land timelines is also what i gathered at my second viewing. I still think its not really made clear enough, and that 'a week' is a lie, but oh well.
If that is what you consider a "lie", then is the 'a day' in the sea timeline a lie also? :P

Because that one starts sometime in the morning/noon and then ends as the sun sets.

That's like six to twelve hours (1/4 or 1/2 of a day), not a full 24-hour day.
dormouse7 wrote:In 1940 reality, LAND was a week (May 26-Jun4).

In the film, it is already past May 26 when Tommy arrives at the beach. They are already putting wounded and well soldiers on the hospital ship. They have already figured out to use the Mole because the big ships cannot get in close enough. Soldiers are already lined up on the beach.

In 1940 reality, the hospital ship Paris made 6 trips ferrying wounded and soldiers out of there before she was bombed and sunk.

Nolan messed with the reality a bit by having the Little Ships arrive so late. In 1940 reality, the Little Ships started arriving on May 28 and the hospital ship Paris was sunk on June 2.
I don't think he messed with reality, because the film never explicitly says what day The Mole storyline starts on.

It's vague and open to interpretation, and leaves plenty of wiggle room for the movie to still be historically accurate.

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I think he definitely moved when the hospital ship sinks. Only one hospital ship sank at Dunkirk in 1940 and that was the Paris and it sank on Jun 2. And Little Ships started arrived May 28 in 1940. In the film it is more like the hospital ship sinks May 28 and the bulk of Little Ships arrive June 2. By June 4 (late in the day) or June 5, Alex and Tommy are near Woking (outside of London) on a train and Churchill's Jun 4 speech is in the newspaper.

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Well, the hospital ship is fictional as are Commander Bolton and Colonel Winnant, so no real contention of accuracy there.

But I do see your point regarding the Little Ships; Tommy's story begins on May 31 at the earliest, and the film says that the Little Ships still haven't arrived by then, even though they did historically.

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Something really confused me:

We see Alex who's already covered in oil on the Moonstone then we see Tommy swimming towards the destroyer then the destroyer gets bombed and the oil spills and Tommy gets covered in oil.

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I don't know if this explains it, but Alex (and any other pickups) on the Moonstone is SEA timeline. Tommy (and others) in the water, when not viewed from the Moonstone, would be LAND timeline.

Maybe they don't really converge until Tommy is on the Moonstone?

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dormouse7 wrote:In 1940 reality, LAND was a week (May 26-Jun4).

In the film, it is already past May 26 when Tommy arrives at the beach. They are already putting wounded and well soldiers on the hospital ship. They have already figured out to use the Mole because the big ships cannot get in close enough. Soldiers are already lined up on the beach.

In 1940 reality, the hospital ship Paris made 6 trips ferrying wounded and soldiers out of there before she was bombed and sunk.

Nolan messed with the reality a bit by having the Little Ships arrive so late. In 1940 reality, the Little Ships started arriving on May 28 and the hospital ship Paris was sunk on June 2.
In general, Dunkirk is pretty historically "meh".

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I love the moment when we see Farrier look down and see Tommy, Alex and the others swim away from the small boat towards the destroyer. The music is also perfect in that moment!

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dormouse7 wrote:I don't know if this explains it, but Alex (and any other pickups) on the Moonstone is SEA timeline. Tommy (and others) in the water, when not viewed from the Moonstone, would be LAND timeline.

Maybe they don't really converge until Tommy is on the Moonstone?
That's right.

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