The Best Movies You’ve Never Seen podcast – Dunkirk

[00:01:43] Stephen Fenech: Hello and welcome to The Best Movies You've Never Seen, our podcast about movies, movies that I know very well. My name is Stephen Fenech. I love picking the movies for this show because then I get to show them to Trevor Long, uh, my co-host, for the very first time. 99% of the time it's for the first time.

[00:01:59] Trevor Long: Absolutely, yeah.

[00:02:00] Stephen Fenech: And I'm pretty sure this time is for the first time also. Have you seen Dunkirk before? I never heard the word. Had never heard the word, it's actually a place.

[00:02:09] Trevor Long: Just so you know, I'm not a big— I'll preface this podcast with I'm not a big history buff, okay?

[00:02:14] Stephen Fenech: Oh, okay. All right, well, Dunkirk was released in 2017, written and directed by Christopher Nolan, who brought us so many other great movies. Written and directed. The Dark Knight, Tenet, Inception, Oppenheimer. Uh, he's got a movie coming out in cinemas, uh, The Odyssey, you know, in a few weeks.

[00:02:31] Trevor Long: So he's, uh, the dude that's still— he's even been knighted, like, he's— well Is he the dude that films on film?

[00:02:36] Stephen Fenech: Like, he's, uh, he does IMAX films in IMAX.

[00:02:39] Trevor Long: Crazy.

[00:02:39] Stephen Fenech: I'm not sure, but yeah, no, he's Sir Christopher Nolan.

[00:02:43] Trevor Long: There's some docos on YouTube people have done, like, stories where he's just—

[00:02:46] Stephen Fenech: wouldn't surprise me.

[00:02:46] Trevor Long: He's like, he's the last holdout.

[00:02:48] Stephen Fenech: Wouldn't surprise me. Uh, so the writer, producer, and director— so he does it all— along with his wife. Uh, his, his wife's actually one of the producers, Dame Emma Thomas. She's a dame, he's a knight.

[00:03:00] Trevor Long: Wow, they're doing okay.

[00:03:01] Stephen Fenech: Uh, the, uh, and a friend, they made the crossing from England to Dunkirk on boat the way that a civilian would have done it during the original evacuation, right? It took 19 hours because of the sea conditions.

[00:03:14] Movie Audio: Wow.

[00:03:15] Stephen Fenech: So that was sort of a part inspiration. Now, after he heard a lot of firsthand accounts of the Dunkirk evacuation, right? Uh, so he thought— he realized how young and inexperienced most of the soldiers were, right? So that, that inspired him to cast young unknown actors for the beach setting, like people you'd never seen before, the young actors. That, you know, that early part, right? Yeah, that, uh, that was, that was his decision. Now this was, uh, made— it was only a 76-page screenplay. Now normally script screenwriters in the industry, they, they take it like there's a page per time. Yeah, yeah, this is a 76-page screenplay. Well, it's not even a 2-hour movie. Later on you'll find out it's his shortest movie he's ever made, uh, but He originally intended to make it an improvised movie.

[00:04:08] Movie Audio: What?

[00:04:09] Stephen Fenech: So it's a little bit like Curb Your Enthusiasm. Okay, here we are, you're gonna— you're waiting for a boat, it's not coming, go. And then they'd improvise the scene.

[00:04:16] Trevor Long: Wow.

[00:04:17] Stephen Fenech: But he decided— and I discovered after looking through the movie for the audio, there's not much audio, there's not much of people talking, it's all action.

[00:04:26] Trevor Long: Yeah, one character that basically never talks. Yeah.

[00:04:29] Stephen Fenech: So that's, uh, this— that's, that's a remarkable part of it. Now according to The Hollywood Reporter, the deal that he got against the box office here. He received apparently a $20 million salary against 20% of the box office gross. Biggest deal for any director, along with Peter Jackson— didn't even do it, he had the same amount with King Kong. But Vanity Fair reported that Nolan agreed to receive a low upfront salary in exchange for a larger back-end percentage.

[00:05:02] Trevor Long: So Who knows?

[00:05:05] Stephen Fenech: Now, the importance of Dunkirk. Like Christopher Nolan, just make it—

[00:05:10] Trevor Long: as I said, I'm not a history buff, but yeah, and spoiler, I've watched it now. Um, I feel like it's, it's not their Gallipoli, but it's as, it's as big for them as that because it's a bigger moment, because a moment, it's a, it's not a victory, it's, you know, it's this moment that's not a victory, which is kind of a strange thing that we, uh, don't— we commemorate.

[00:05:28] Stephen Fenech: Yes, exactly right. So here's what Christopher Nolan said and why, one of the reasons why he made the movie. This is an essential moment in the history of World War II. If this evacuation had not been a success, Great Britain would have been obliged to capitulate, and the whole world would have been lost or would have known a different fate. The Germans would undoubtedly have conquered Europe. The US would not have returned to the war. It is a true point of rupture in war and in the history of the world because of their ability to get the troops out and get them out of there and deploy them either internally or other places. Remarkable. So what were your impressions? Any, any impression before it? Had you heard of it?

[00:06:05] Trevor Long: No, nothing. You're right.

[00:06:08] Movie Audio: Okay.

[00:06:08] Stephen Fenech: Yeah.

[00:06:09] Trevor Long: I think I would've associated—

[00:06:10] Stephen Fenech: Did you know it was a Dunkirk? Did it tell you war?

[00:06:12] Trevor Long: I would've associated it was a war movie.

[00:06:14] Stephen Fenech: Right.

[00:06:15] Trevor Long: I don't know why, but yeah, that's about it.

[00:06:17] Stephen Fenech: So the thumbnail, my thumbnail, and I've got this on 4K as well. It's a picture of a young back shot of a, from behind of a young soldier on an empty beach.

[00:06:26] Trevor Long: Like I said last week, I don't even look at it. I just go, is this right? Like sometimes I go, is this the right movie? Sometimes there's multiple movies with one name and I'm like, I think, is this really it? So I just—

[00:06:35] Stephen Fenech: You messaged me and you thought, yeah, I know it was an hour before.

[00:06:38] Trevor Long: And I'm like, I click and play and I don't really even pay attention to the thumbnail.

[00:06:42] Stephen Fenech: Yeah, well, here's a little Easter egg for the thumbnail and the artwork for the movie. Dunkirk is a, it's a 6-letter word, right? D-U-N-I-R-K. So is it, hang on, 1, 2, 7. It's okay. They've divided the letters to different colors. So you look closely, there is brown, blue, and like a lighter color to describe air, land, and sea. Oh right, yeah, because that's how the movie's been divided. Yeah, it's air, land, and sea.

[00:07:14] Trevor Long: Yep.

[00:07:15] Stephen Fenech: Right, right. Oh, uh, this was nominated for 8 Oscars.

[00:07:19] Trevor Long: Jesus, that makes sense.

[00:07:20] Stephen Fenech: Won 3. That's pretty good. Uh, 3 at once.

[00:07:22] Trevor Long: Cinematography?

[00:07:24] Stephen Fenech: Uh, no.

[00:07:24] Movie Audio: Wow.

[00:07:25] Trevor Long: Sound?

[00:07:26] Stephen Fenech: Yes, sound editing and sound mixing. That's 2 Oscars.

[00:07:29] Movie Audio: Wow.

[00:07:30] Stephen Fenech: And best film editing.

[00:07:32] Movie Audio: Wow.

[00:07:32] Stephen Fenech: So it's nominated for best picture, lost to The Shape of Water. Nominated for Best Director, Christopher Nolan lost to Guillermo del Toro, The Shape of Water.

[00:07:42] Trevor Long: Idiots.

[00:07:43] Stephen Fenech: Nominated for Best Music, Hans Zimmer lost to The Shape of Water.

[00:07:48] Trevor Long: Who does Hans Zimmer lose to?

[00:07:50] Stephen Fenech: Nominated for Best Cinematography, lost to Blade Runner 2049.

[00:07:54] Trevor Long: Dude.

[00:07:55] Stephen Fenech: Best Production Design lost to, you guessed it, The Shape of Water.

[00:08:00] Trevor Long: What the hell's The Shape of Water?

[00:08:01] Stephen Fenech: Shape of Water, we'll do it. It's a quirky movie about this sort of in the '50s, they've got this sort of top secret lab and there's this creature that they've captured in this thing. And the woman who works there falls in love with the creature.

[00:08:15] Trevor Long: I'm out, mate.

[00:08:15] Stephen Fenech: It's actually a really poignant movie.

[00:08:17] Trevor Long: I'm out. Don't put it on the list.

[00:08:19] Stephen Fenech: Give it a chance, mate.

[00:08:20] Trevor Long: Mate, I don't like the sell. That's the worst sell for a movie ever.

[00:08:22] Stephen Fenech: We're doing that next week now.

[00:08:23] Trevor Long: Someone's fallen in love with The Shape of Bloody Water.

[00:08:26] Stephen Fenech: We're going to get there next week.

[00:08:27] Trevor Long: Stop it.

[00:08:28] Stephen Fenech: Next week we'll do it. Okay. Righto. This is your last exit before the freeway. If you haven't seen Dunkirk, you can storm the beaches at Fetch.

[00:08:37] Trevor Long: One of the great things you can do on Fetch as a subscriber For your $2.99 a month, you're paying such a small amount, be getting so much, including the Fetch Movie Box, 30 on-demand movies with no ads every month for just $2.99. It's part of your subscription along with everything else. Um, new hand-picked titles every day, so basically it's a one in, one out every single day. Um, Annie is on there right now, Bohemian Rhapsody, which we've done, we have done. There's a couple of Jumanjis, uh, you haven't done We have not done.

[00:09:08] Stephen Fenech: Okay.

[00:09:08] Trevor Long: La La Land, Strip Tease, Demi Moore. I have seen that.

[00:09:11] Stephen Fenech: I'll give that a go.

[00:09:13] Trevor Long: Yeah, seen that. Money Monster, George Clooney.

[00:09:15] Stephen Fenech: Yeah, George and Julia Roberts.

[00:09:16] Trevor Long: That's on my list.

[00:09:17] Stephen Fenech: That's on our list.

[00:09:17] Trevor Long: From the thumbnail, I'm in. Giddy up. Supernova, Survive the Night, The Girl on the Train, The Hitman's Bodyguard. I mean, there's just so many movies. Total Recall.

[00:09:29] Stephen Fenech: Which we've done.

[00:09:30] Trevor Long: 30 movies to watch.

[00:09:32] Stephen Fenech: Is that the Arnold Schwarzenegger Total Recall?

[00:09:33] Trevor Long: No, I was going to say it doesn't look like the one that we've done.

[00:09:34] Stephen Fenech: That's the one with Colin Farrell.

[00:09:35] Trevor Long: I was going to say that's the crap one.

[00:09:37] Movie Audio: It's not Arnie.

[00:09:40] Trevor Long: Rotten Tomatoes score of 30. So yeah, maybe skip that one. But yeah, the 30, the movie box means it's something to watch every day. There's no requirement if you spend a cent and it's part of your plan. So get into it. And that's just part of having a Fetch box. It's part of being the greatest entertainment box you can buy. And you can find Fetch at major retailers, get it through Telstra, or you can check out more at fetchtv.com.au.

[00:10:01] Stephen Fenech: Alrighty, you've now seen Dunkirk. And I think I know you enjoyed this because you did send me a little message.

[00:10:08] Trevor Long: I very rarely, very rarely say no anything to you after a movie?

[00:10:12] Stephen Fenech: You keep your powder dry.

[00:10:13] Trevor Long: I normally just go, yeah, whatever, and don't say a thing. But like the other day when I watched this, as you said, I sent it at midday, you were in a meeting. And an hour later, literally, you said what it was. And I wrote back, wow, what a film.

[00:10:28] Stephen Fenech: Yeah, it was great.

[00:10:29] Trevor Long: That's a big call for me to go there.

[00:10:31] Stephen Fenech: So yeah, I enjoyed it. See what you missed in 2017, mate. You could have watched this, how many years ago is that? 9 years ago.

[00:10:38] Trevor Long: Who invited me to watch it? I'm not a movie person. Okay, well, now you are. Yeah, no, so bottom line, yeah, enjoyed it.

[00:10:45] Stephen Fenech: Righto. What's your social media post here?

[00:10:47] Trevor Long: Dunkirk confused me until it all made sense and filled me with emotion in so many ways. Really well shot, amazing story of a small slice of a huge war. Remarkable and worth a watch.

[00:11:00] Stephen Fenech: Yeah, I don't know whether this has actually been made into a film before. Has there been another version of this made before? If it is, it's amazing.

[00:11:09] Trevor Long: Staggered it hasn't been made because the story could be told from another 20 angles.

[00:11:12] Stephen Fenech: It's amazing.

[00:11:12] Trevor Long: Like, you don't have to remake this movie. You just need to go, okay, let's—

[00:11:16] Stephen Fenech: another slice. It could focus on just the boat. Just the guy with— on the Moonstone could have been the whole movie on his own.

[00:11:21] Trevor Long: Like, because there's a backstory, yeah, to the Moonstone captain and his son, right?

[00:11:26] Stephen Fenech: We're going to get into that.

[00:11:27] Trevor Long: So yeah, any one of these. And so imagine, like, I imagine, you know, Peter Fitzsimons has written a lot of Australian war history books. Yes. I'm assuming there's English writers who've done the same, right?

[00:11:36] Stephen Fenech: No doubt.

[00:11:37] Trevor Long: So there must be so many stories.

[00:11:39] Stephen Fenech: There's a lot. Well, there's 400,000 of them on the beach, right?

[00:11:42] Trevor Long: So yeah, fascinating.

[00:11:43] Stephen Fenech: I watched this at the movies.

[00:11:44] Movie Audio: Stunning.

[00:11:44] Stephen Fenech: On my My only regret is I didn't go to IMAX to watch it. Right. He makes his movies released on IMAX and that would have been a great watch. But it was a great watch in my theater and I've got to say the neighbors up the street would have heard it.

[00:11:57] Movie Audio: Yeah.

[00:11:58] Stephen Fenech: Great loud movie.

[00:11:59] Trevor Long: I watched this at 12:55 PM. So I was watching at lunchtime and I was worried that the neighbors here at the office were going to come knocking on the door.

[00:12:06] Stephen Fenech: Well, how good is it for me?

[00:12:08] Trevor Long: Sub.

[00:12:08] Stephen Fenech: No one's home, right? So Joe's not there. My mother-in-law might have heard it next door.

[00:12:14] Trevor Long: If you don't have a subwoofer, yeah, crank it, and you're planning to watch this movie, go and buy one.

[00:12:17] Stephen Fenech: Crank it.

[00:12:18] Trevor Long: Okay, yeah, this is awesome.

[00:12:19] Stephen Fenech: I also now own it on 4K, by the way.

[00:12:22] Trevor Long: Nice.

[00:12:22] Stephen Fenech: Let's talk about the cast. Tom Hardy plays Farrier, who's the one of the pilots. He was in The Dark Knight Rises and Inception, two Christopher Nolan movies, right? He still— he picks and sticks, this bloke, right? He was also in Mad Max: Fury Road, which is George Miller movie. Kenneth Branagh plays Bolton, Commander Bolton. He was in Murder on the Orient Express. He was in Oppenheimer, Christopher Nolan movie, and Tenet, Christopher Nolan movie. Yeah, Mark Rylance was not in a Christopher Nolan movie. He plays Mr. Dawson, you know, the guy on the Moonstone. He was in Bridge of Spies. He won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for that movie, Bridge of Spies, opposite Tom Hanks, directed by Steven Spielberg. Good movie. He was also in The Trial of the Chicago 7, written and directed by our man Aaron Sorkin.

[00:13:07] Movie Audio: Aaron.

[00:13:07] Stephen Fenech: And he was also in the BFG, so a kids movie.

[00:13:10] Trevor Long: Really?

[00:13:10] Stephen Fenech: Big Friendly Giant. That's him.

[00:13:11] Trevor Long: Mark Rylance is the Big Friendly Giant.

[00:13:12] Stephen Fenech: Wow. Barry Keoghan plays George. He was in Saltburn. Now that is a watch and a half. Probably not, uh, for you to discuss on this show just yet, but that's out there, mate. This movie Saltburn, but had like a cult following. It's really, really good. It's got, um, Jacob Elordi, the Aussie actor, in it too. Uh, he was also in The Banshees of Inisherin. I think he got nominated for an Oscar for this one, and he's also in The Green Knight, Knight with a K. Uh, Cillian Murphy, and his character's name is the Shivering Soldier. Remember the bloke they take on board? They kept— he was on the— they picked him off the bridge of the boat. He was in Oppenheimer, won Best Actor Oscar for that.

[00:13:58] Trevor Long: Because he asked him his name, he doesn't say it.

[00:14:00] Stephen Fenech: Yeah, so Oppenheimer, that's Christopher Nolan. He won a Best Actor Oscar.

[00:14:04] Movie Audio: Wow.

[00:14:04] Stephen Fenech: He was also in 28 Days Later.

[00:14:05] Trevor Long: The Christopher Nolan, um, actor relationship friendship. Oh yeah, world.

[00:14:09] Stephen Fenech: Yes.

[00:14:09] Trevor Long: And it happens with a lot of directors. Oh yeah, listening to you, it just proves how important networking and contacts are.

[00:14:15] Stephen Fenech: Absolutely right. Uh, Cillian Murphy was also in 28 Days Later and Red Eye, which wasn't a bad movie. And Harry Styles plays Alex, and he's in One Direction.

[00:14:28] Trevor Long: That's crazy.

[00:14:30] Stephen Fenech: Controversial choice, but we'll discuss that.

[00:14:32] Trevor Long: As soon as I saw him, I recognized him, but yeah, that's that guy. Yeah, yeah, I'm like, holy crap, you're like that meme, you know, Leonardo DiCaprio.

[00:14:38] Stephen Fenech: Yeah, yeah, you know that bloke?

[00:14:40] Trevor Long: Yeah, that normally appears in different, uh, Instagram posts.

[00:14:42] Stephen Fenech: Yeah, yeah, right. Before we get on to the top scenes, let's have a chat about Hisense. And Hisense just, just isn't about TVs and appliances. They've also got projectors, and in particular a laser projector, the XR10, which is what I projected. You've just reviewed that, haven't you? The XR10 can comes with its own suitcase, Stephen. It does.

[00:15:04] Trevor Long: Wheels. That's unbelievable.

[00:15:05] Stephen Fenech: It's a 60— can project up from 65-inch all the way up to 300 inches. If the side of a factory is spare, you can just sort of go project it up on there. Uh, this is a 4K, 600 lumens, triple laser projector. So amazing brightness. You can watch this during the day. And it has optical zoom and lens shift. Now this is important because it not only sets itself up, focuses automatically, but with the optical zoom and the lens shift shift, you can actually create a bigger image in a smaller space. Normally projectors need what they call a throw length, so traditionally you pull a projector further away from the wall to make a bigger image, but because of that optical zoom, you're able to make a big, bigger image in a smaller space. And the lens shift also helps you get your picture up on the wall from— it might be mounted on the ceiling or on the, on those coffee table. The lens shift gives you a great picture every single time, and of course has tremendous sound. Is The Devallier speakers on board there, which sounds amazing, but also too has all of the, the VIDAR-U operating system on there as well. So when you— like a normal TV, you plug it in, it's like what you get on a normal Hisense TV. So you can access your Netflix and Disney+ and Prime, and you don't need to plug anything else into it.

[00:16:23] Trevor Long: It's just ready to go with all that on its own.

[00:16:25] Stephen Fenech: All you do is plug in the power, connect it to Wi-Fi, and boom, you're away. And also obviously you can plug in a console and play games on it and the whole thing, watch your sport on it. It's incredible. So yeah, if you want to enjoy the true home cinema experience on this, on a bigger scale, the XR10 from Hisense is the way to go. Check it out at hisense.com.au. Yeah, right, let's kick this off. Now you're going to be seeing through the rundown here that it's told from 3 perspectives and they cross over until they finally join. Yeah, later in the film.

[00:17:01] Trevor Long: Okay, so it's confused. As I said in my tweet, it's confusing as hell.

[00:17:05] Stephen Fenech: Yeah, it is, but it's not— it then makes the ultimate sense.

[00:17:09] Trevor Long: And I'll work— oh, well, that's exactly what my tweet said, right? But, and there's only that for me, and you might— other people might see it earlier than me, but I, I didn't see it until the bloke on the boat. And when you flashback, you see that it's him. So you match a character in two of the storylines.

[00:17:23] Stephen Fenech: When they were trying to get— they get kicked out. Now you can't come on, you're going to tip us over. He was on there, the shivering soldier. Yeah, well, the film opens with Tommy, a young British private Private and his small squad, they're scavenging for water and supplies in the quiet streets of Dunkirk. Suddenly opens fire, the German snipers open fire. There, uh, the squad's gunned down except for Tommy. He runs for it, scrambles over a barricade and breaks through to the beach.

[00:17:49] Trevor Long: Yeah, like he, he, oh, you know what I love about this? It's an early doors moment for a young person in war, and that to me is the biggest emotion of this movie, is you just There's so many moments in this movie where I go, I just wouldn't do that.

[00:18:02] Stephen Fenech: Remember they're dropping the leaflet?

[00:18:03] Trevor Long: I just couldn't do that. Like, how noble. Anyway, so this kid, 3 people next to him are gunned down, he jumps a fence, he doesn't keep running, he stops, gets his gun working, starts shooting through the fence. Like, dude, keep running. But no, and it goes haywire and he keeps running. It's just—

[00:18:19] Stephen Fenech: and at the same time, he captures that so well. He grabs the hose and hopes there's a bit of water in the hose.

[00:18:24] Movie Audio: That.

[00:18:25] Stephen Fenech: One bloke even goes through the window and grabs a cigarette stub out of the thing, and they're dropping propaganda leaflets on top of them saying, look, you're surrounded, you're gone, we'll surrender, you might as well surrender. Yeah, so they're facing all of that. Tommy gets through, he's met with a staggering sight. There's 400,000 Allied soldiers lined up on the vast exposed sand awaiting evacuation. So this is the story of the movie. They've got to get these guys off there.

[00:18:52] Trevor Long: He's walking out of a town where it's quiet quiet and, you know, there's a French holding the, the, the, you know, the, the blockade. And he walks out and there's just memory, guess I'm a British soldier. So many.

[00:19:02] Stephen Fenech: Yeah. But he finds another silent soldier, Gibson, we find out his name is, burying a dead comrade. But he says, he might as well take his shoes.

[00:19:11] Trevor Long: He's about to take a shit on the beach. Yeah. Because he's been desperate, he's been trying to do it several times. And then he goes and he realizes he's burying someone, so he goes to help him because he's giving dignity to the—

[00:19:20] Stephen Fenech: to the dead. But you notice they don't say a word.

[00:19:21] Trevor Long: Not a And that's what's fascinating. And by the way, yeah, I pegged at this very moment, yeah, this was weird because he was also— he wasn't just taking his shoes, he clearly stole his uniform. Yes, because he was doing up his shirt and stuff. It's like, hang on a minute, that seems weird.

[00:19:35] Stephen Fenech: Well, when it comes into play later, you'll know why, of course. But yeah, so that's why I like the little breadcrumbs that are dropped here. Christopher Nile is really good like that. But you know what they do, really smart, they, um, they realize German dive bombers attacking the beach, the soldiers hitting the deck. Tommy and Gibson spot a wounded man and you know what, you know what we're going to to do? We're going to skip the line here. We're going to grab the stretcher.

[00:19:55] Trevor Long: They realize they're letting the stretchers through, so let's go, let's get on, get a stretcher.

[00:19:59] Stephen Fenech: That's what they did. They rushed the wounded soldier towards the departing hospital ship at the Mole. The Mole is the long stone breakwater pier.

[00:20:08] Trevor Long: Yeah.

[00:20:09] Stephen Fenech: Now here's my interjection here, are going to be called bombshells. My bombshell is that the— I think I mentioned this already— the whole Christopher Nolan was inspired by the stories told on the— about the people that were actually on the beach awaiting it. Yeah. And that's why he had to do these young actors that, and like that Tommy bloke couldn't have been, looked like he was like 19.

[00:20:31] Trevor Long: Yeah, less.

[00:20:31] Stephen Fenech: And the other guy was really young as well, so that's why he chose really young guys. Meanwhile, at Weymouth Harbour in England, the British Navy begins requisitioning civilian vessels to assist in the evacuation. Yeah. Mr. Dawson, a stoic mariner, prefers to pilot his own yacht, the Moonstone.

[00:20:49] Trevor Long: They take on all the life jackets as required, but he's like, let's get going before they get here. And he's like, the Navy coming, he's like, no, I'm taking this thing out.

[00:20:56] Stephen Fenech: But he's joined by his son Peter and Peter's teenage friend George, who hitches a ride at the last second to prove his worth.

[00:21:06] Movie Audio: Ready on the stern line, George. Aren't you waiting on the Navy? They've asked for the Moonstone, they'll have her. And her captain.

[00:21:17] Stephen Fenech: And his son.

[00:21:21] Trevor Long: Thanks for the help, George.

[00:21:24] Stephen Fenech: George, hop on board. George, jump on.

[00:21:25] Trevor Long: What are you doing?

[00:21:28] Movie Audio: You do know where we're going? France. Into war, George. I'll be useful, sir.

[00:21:40] Stephen Fenech: Fateful decision.

[00:21:41] Trevor Long: Hard to listen to now.

[00:21:42] Stephen Fenech: Yeah. Meanwhile, in the air— so we've had the sea, we've had the land, now the air. 3 British Spitfire pilots. The leader is Farrier.

[00:21:51] Trevor Long: And before you go on, Yep. I still haven't really grasped the significance of the week, the hour, the day, the hour.

[00:22:00] Stephen Fenech: Yeah. So the timelines come into play, like the moonstone's obviously hours, probably I think a day away.

[00:22:07] Movie Audio: Right.

[00:22:08] Stephen Fenech: The Spitfires are on their way and the blokes on the beach are there. So it's there, they're noting, it's like everything's coming into synchronizing.

[00:22:20] Trevor Long: Yeah. Is it just to say Yeah, mine is longer than, yeah, I just didn't quite get that.

[00:22:26] Stephen Fenech: Yeah, I think it was a subtle way he did it, but there are 3 British Spitfire pilots, Farrier, Tom Hardy's the leader, Collins, flying across the Channel to provide air support. Farrier adjusts his clock and notes his fuel levels, establishing the tight 1-hour timeline, right? So for them, it's an hour.

[00:22:45] Trevor Long: Yes.

[00:22:45] Stephen Fenech: And that's what we see. The others, the timeline's longer.

[00:22:48] Trevor Long: Yeah.

[00:22:48] Stephen Fenech: Now my bombshell here is, American billionaire Dan Friedkin, who was an avid vintage military aviation collector— you reckon I'm getting my life-size Star Wars figures? This bloke owns two Mk I Spitfires. He lent them two of his Spitfires for the movie.

[00:23:11] Movie Audio: Wow.

[00:23:12] Stephen Fenech: Now the planes are valued at $5 million apiece, and his collection is so large, the only other person who owns more Spitfires than him at the time was the Queen. You made more than him. So boom, there you go. So they had the genuine deal there.

[00:23:31] Movie Audio: Wow.

[00:23:31] Stephen Fenech: Righto, meanwhile, back at the pier, Tommy and Gibson deliver the wounded man to the hospital ship, but they're denied entry because the ship's at maximum capacity. They hide under the wooden pilings of the mole. Officers gather to discuss the situation.

[00:23:47] Movie Audio: How's the perimeter? Shrinking every day. Right between our rearguard and the French, we're holding the line. And the enemy tanks have stopped. Why have they stopped? Waste precious tanks when they can pick us off from the air like fish in a barrel? How long does London expect the army to hold out before we make terms? Make terms? They're not stopping here. We need to get our army back. Britain's next, and then the rest of the world. Christ. I mean, you can practically smell it. I can see it from here. What? Home. What about the French? Publicly, Churchill's told them, "Bras dessus, arm in arm, leaving together." And privately? We need our army back. How many men are they talking about, sir? Churchill wants 30,000. Ramsay's hoping we can give him 45,000. There are 400,000 men on this beach. So we'll just have to do our best. Right, all this mole stays open at all costs. We're in artillery range from the west. If anything else sinks here, the mole's blocked and we're stuffed. Can't we load from the beaches? Better than standing out here when the dive bombs come. It's impossible. Too shallow. Anything that drafts over 3 feet can't get near. We don't have enough small boats to ferry men to the destroyers. The mole is is there, gentlemen?

[00:25:12] Trevor Long: We need our army back is the key thing you hear. We need our army back.

[00:25:16] Stephen Fenech: Did you hear in the music sort of the whole sort of like rising, sort of almost ticking, and sort of like a tension pumping up the urgency? Yeah, the tension.

[00:25:24] Trevor Long: It's phenomenal.

[00:25:25] Stephen Fenech: Um, so, uh, the Moonstone encounters the wreckage of a torpedoed British ship, and sitting on the hull is a shell-shocked unnamed British soldier. They pull him aboard, wrapping him in blankets. Now my bombshell here Dawson, the character played by Mark Rylance, the captain of the Moonstone, is based on a real person.

[00:25:45] Trevor Long: You're right.

[00:25:45] Stephen Fenech: The real person is Charles Lightoller, second officer of the Titanic. He keeps— he was on the lifeboats when they— when it went, so he survived. He took his yacht, the Sundowner, to Dunkirk at age 66. Now, like Lightoller, Dawson refuses to let the Navy crew— he goes, I'm the captain, I'm taken it. Uh, if he said, if anyone takes it, it'll be me. And he took one of his sons with him. Like Lightoller, Dawson lost a son in the Royal Air Force. Uh, and, uh, he also— or Lord Lightoller also packed the boat so full, 4 had to stand in the bathtub during the disembarkation. So there were— in, in the movie, there were 55 men on board, but Lightoller packed in 130 men aboard his Sundowner. Wow. So we get to the first dogfight. The 3 Spitfires engage German Messerschmitt fighters. The leader's— the flight leader's plane is shot down and crashes into the sea. That's the German leader's plane. Farrier takes command, but during the dogfight his fuel gauge is shattered, so he's got a man— memory writes— he manually tracks the fuel. Now here's another bombshell for you. Sir Christopher Nolan wanted this to look so real, so for many of the cockpit shots So similar to what they did with Top Gun Maverick, they had a two-seat plane rigged so that the front canopy and cockpit looked like a real Spitfire but with non-flying controls and with the actual pilot flying the plane from the rear cockpit so that the actor could play the pilot as the plane actually flew. Yeah.

[00:27:24] Movie Audio: Wow.

[00:27:25] Stephen Fenech: Now meanwhile, a swarm of German bombers attack and the hospital ship takes a direct—

[00:27:30] Trevor Long: and by the way, no point playing the audio, but this is where the subs are just— I mean, my God.

[00:27:35] Stephen Fenech: No, there's no audio here. It's just subwoofers.

[00:27:38] Trevor Long: Yeah, yeah, the sound of this is grueling. Yeah, do you know what I mean? It's big, it's, it's, it's almost overwhelming.

[00:27:45] Stephen Fenech: But remember, at this point, Tommy and Gibson, the guys with the stretcher, they managed to get on board. They rescued another soldier, Alex, which is Harry Styles. They pull him to safety. They return to the beach under the COVID of night. Now, do you remember during that part, remember where where Gibson stayed on the top deck. Yes. And they went down, he was smashing the jam sandwiches. Yep. And he goes, oh, how come he's on it? He goes, oh mate, he's scared we're going to get hit again and he wants to get out. And he was right.

[00:28:12] Trevor Long: But he also looked up and he goes, he wants to be in the hatch.

[00:28:14] Stephen Fenech: And he opened the hatch for him. Yeah, he opened the hatch for him.

[00:28:16] Trevor Long: That's right. Remember, they got out.

[00:28:17] Stephen Fenech: Yeah. Now, the mall, back at the mall, under the COVID of darkness, Tommy, Gibson, and Alex managed to board a departing Navy destroyer. And down in the cramped claustrophobic underbelly of the ships. So this is where it happens. So the, the German—

[00:28:34] Trevor Long: because this is where, like, it's a torpedo too, and you see it coming. It's very cool. Yes.

[00:28:37] Stephen Fenech: Well, this is where Gibson was on top of the deck there, right?

[00:28:39] Trevor Long: That's right. Yeah.

[00:28:40] Stephen Fenech: And he, he let them out. Yeah.

[00:28:42] Trevor Long: Which is, by the way, the, the sets, the filming of this is remarkable. Yeah.

[00:28:46] Stephen Fenech: It was all real. Looks real. It's all real stuff.

[00:28:48] Trevor Long: Yeah.

[00:28:49] Stephen Fenech: Is it though? They would have had that— that could have been in a massive tank tank. You know, you know where there's a massive filming tank? Malta. Yeah, they do a lot of under— like, stuff in Malta. But that would have been— I reckon, I think I read somewhere that the scenes at night were filmed in a tank, the scenes during the day were filmed in, in a real ocean.

[00:29:08] Trevor Long: Wow.

[00:29:08] Stephen Fenech: Yeah. Uh, so, uh, back on the Moonstone, the shivering soldier realizes Mr. Dawson is sailing towards—

[00:29:17] Trevor Long: he sees the smoke. Yeah, Dunkirk. Thinking, why would there be smoke in Where are we going?

[00:29:25] Movie Audio: Dunkirk. No, no, we're going to England. We have to go to Dunkirk first. I'm not going back. I'm not going back. Look at it. If we go there, we'll die. I see your point, son. Well, let's plot the course. You can take your tea below and warm up. Peter, we got space for man to lie down?

[00:30:08] Trevor Long: Uh, yeah.

[00:30:10] Stephen Fenech: So he's terrified he's going back to the war zone, and later on he panics and tries to wrestle control of the wheel. Now, during this scuffle, George is violently shoved down the stairs, hits the back of his head heavily on the floor, suffers severe trauma, and even loses his sight.

[00:30:27] Movie Audio: You brave lad. You, Mr. Dawson, it's the best thing I've ever done. You're all right. You okay? Secret. It's the only thing I've ever done. It's all right, it's okay. Just have some water. I tell my dad I'm— I've done nothing that's cool. I knew I would do something one day. Maybe get in the local paper. Maybe my teachers would see it.

[00:31:14] Stephen Fenech: Okay, get some rest.

[00:31:16] Movie Audio: I need you back up on deck as soon as you're able. Come on. What? I can't see.

[00:31:31] Trevor Long: That's sad, is it? Because George doesn't say he can't see until the last moment. He doesn't want him to know that, but then he has to tell him because he's like, I'm not going to be able to help because you can't see.

[00:31:42] Stephen Fenech: Blood come out the back of his head, so he's not in a good way, the poor bloke.

[00:31:45] Trevor Long: Yeah.

[00:31:45] Stephen Fenech: In the air, Farrier and Collins intercept a German bomber that was about to target a ship.

[00:31:51] Trevor Long: Isn't it amazing how you start rooting for him here? Oh yeah, come on, mate.

[00:31:54] Stephen Fenech: They take it out, but Collins is damaged, his Spitfire. He's forced to ditch the plane in English Channel.

[00:32:01] Trevor Long: And see, this is again one of those, like, there's so many crossover moments here. And this, yeah, the ditching bit, because, yep. And the thing to note here is, is he ditches and then the other bloke flies over and he waves back at him because he can see him waving. Well, he sees the ditched plane, he sees the pilot wave.

[00:32:19] Stephen Fenech: Yes.

[00:32:19] Trevor Long: And so he waves back at him and then flies away. That's, that's what you take out of this moment. Well, this is later in the movie.

[00:32:25] Stephen Fenech: Interestingly, this very moment is the intersection section. This is where the film, the one day, one week, and one hour timelines are now cross-cut as the same, right? Right. So the characters all arrive at the same location off the coast of Dunkirk. They're all there now.

[00:32:42] Trevor Long: Yeah.

[00:32:43] Stephen Fenech: So the officers are waiting for destroyers but are told none are coming.

[00:32:49] Movie Audio: Where are the destroyers? There'll be one soon. One. After yesterday's losses, it's one ship on the mole at a time.

[00:32:59] Stephen Fenech: The battle is here. What the hell are they saving them for?

[00:33:02] Movie Audio: The next battle. The one from Britain. Same with the planes. But it's right there.

[00:33:12] Stephen Fenech: You can practice.

[00:33:13] Movie Audio: Seeing home doesn't help us get there, Colonel. They need to send more ships. Every hour the enemy pushes Closer. They've activated the small vessels pool. Small vessels? It's the list of civilian boats for requisition. Civilian? We need destroyers. Small boats can load from the beach. Not in these conditions. Well, I'd rather face waves than dive bombers. Oh, you're right, they won't get up in this. The Royal Engineers are building piers from lorries. At least that should help us when the tide comes back. Well, we'll know in 6 hours' time. I thought the tides were every 3. Then it's good that you're Army and I'm Navy, isn't it?

[00:34:01] Stephen Fenech: That's a good line. Now, uh, it's a great line. On land, Tommy, Alex, and Gibson, uh, are looking for a way off the beach. They join a small group of soldiers who snuck outside the Allied perimeter. They find a stranded Dutch fishing trawler and hide inside, waiting for high tide to float the boat. But unbeknownst to them, the German troops are approaching and they use it for target practice to start shooting bullets through the hull. Tide finally comes in, water begins pouring in through the bullet holes and weighs the boat down. Meanwhile, Collins, who's still trapped inside the sinking Spitfire, is— his cockpit's jammed and water's filling up the interior. But just before he drowns, the Moonstone arrives. Peter smashes the glass with a boat hook and they pull Hollands to safety.

[00:34:48] Trevor Long: But don't you think it's amazing how, as I mentioned that earlier scene where he's from the air, he waves, and then from the, from the, well, from the sea, yeah, you see he's stuck and we get his hand through and he's, he's, he's doing, he's doing the waving action, trying to, which is interpreted by his colleague that he's okay, but he's actually about to die. Not exactly right. Phenomenal, phenomenal.

[00:35:08] Stephen Fenech: Meanwhile, inside the flooding trawler, the soldiers realize they need to dump weight to stay afloat. Uh, Alex, our man from Harry Styles, is paranoid and desperate, points out the Gibson has been completely silent the whole time. He accuses Gibson of being a German spy and demands he leaves the boat, but he speaks. Gibson speaks up.

[00:35:31] Movie Audio: Somebody needs to get off. Well, volunteers? I don't need a volunteer. I know someone who ought to get off. This one, he's a German Spy. Don't be daft.

[00:35:46] Stephen Fenech: He's a fucking Jerry.

[00:35:48] Movie Audio: Have you noticed he hasn't said a word? He's—

[00:35:53] Stephen Fenech: I have.

[00:35:55] Movie Audio: Not speak English. If he does, it's with an accent thick as sauerkraut sauce. Sure, daft. Tell him.

[00:36:02] Trevor Long: Yeah.

[00:36:12] Movie Audio: Sam, for God's sake!

[00:36:18] Trevor Long: A frog! A frog, which is kind of worse than a soldier.

[00:36:25] Movie Audio: Frog!

[00:36:26] Stephen Fenech: You know, they're allies. Cowardly.

[00:36:28] Trevor Long: It's cowardly.

[00:36:29] Stephen Fenech: Jumping frog.

[00:36:31] Movie Audio: That's Gibson, eh? Some naked dead Englishman lying out on that sand.

[00:36:34] Stephen Fenech: He should at least have the decency to bury —He did.

[00:36:37] Movie Audio: I helped him. I thought it was his mate. —Maybe he killed him.

[00:36:40] Trevor Long: —He didn't kill him.

[00:36:40] Stephen Fenech: —How do we know?

[00:36:41] Movie Audio: —How hard is it to find a dead Englishman on Dunkirk beach? He didn't kill anyone. He was just looking for a way off the sand like the rest of us.

[00:36:48] Stephen Fenech: —Wild. Confronting that bit.

[00:36:50] Trevor Long: So what I think is really important about that is, 'cause if you don't watch a movie like this, and that's why the casting's brilliant, 'cause they're all young, and get this overwhelming sense of these young guys just fighting, you know, for their country. And then you get the sense of this sort of French guy's gone, I'm getting out of here. Yeah.

[00:37:07] Stephen Fenech: So it's like doing whatever they can, mate.

[00:37:09] Trevor Long: But it's cowardly in the terms of the others who are fighting for their country and their lives.

[00:37:14] Stephen Fenech: They say, well, mate, he thought, I'll get a better chance of getting off this beach if I'm in an English uniform than a French uniform. Remember there was a scene earlier on where he goes, no, no, French last, British soldiers first.

[00:37:23] Trevor Long: Remember, that's why they call him a queue jumper. Yeah. So yeah, that's why they call him a queue jumper, because he is.

[00:37:28] Stephen Fenech: Uh, they managed though to get out. Did they get on the mines? Sweeper. They got on there, eh, with the—

[00:37:33] Trevor Long: because they get onto everything that gets sunk.

[00:37:35] Stephen Fenech: Everything that gets there, that's right. Yeah, they're having a shocking luck.

[00:37:38] Trevor Long: I mean, I wouldn't mind a hit list of how many things these guys have found.

[00:37:41] Stephen Fenech: That minesweeper's bombed by German aircraft, releasing a massive oil slick. Now, as the trawler capsizes, Tommy and Alex get out, but Gypsy gets tangled in there and drowns. Yeah. And then so the officers go, they can see on the horizon hundreds hundreds of boats that are just little—

[00:37:59] Trevor Long: they can see little ships, little boats. What do you see?

[00:38:09] Movie Audio: Home.

[00:38:12] Trevor Long: What do you see now?

[00:38:22] Stephen Fenech: It's home. It's at this point. What a line. It's amazing. That was a— it was— and I love how the music picked up and everything was awesome. It's at this point too where Farrier's now got hit flying on a completely dead engine, sweeps over the coast of Dunkirk, but he still managed to intercept and shoot down a bomber as it was prepared to smash the beach. And the— yeah, and the troops cheering, woo!

[00:38:46] Trevor Long: What I— again, and this and this is Christopher Nolan genius, you have to assume and accept, that plane flying over as it goes to glide in and land, the silence that comes into the movie, which is to make the point that it would've been silent. Exactly right. And that would be crazy.

[00:39:03] Stephen Fenech: And you could see there's no propeller moving. No, that's right. You just see the propeller sit still.

[00:39:07] Trevor Long: Yeah, but what's interesting about that is you can sometimes see a propeller or a wheel on a car look still but it's moving, you know, that whole effect. So bringing the silence That was really, really makes the point. It's so well done.

[00:39:18] Stephen Fenech: Meanwhile, the Moonstone has sailed directly into the chaos of the sinking minesweeper and the oil slick.

[00:39:24] Trevor Long: Yeah, see, I didn't understand initially why they were worried about the oil slick until one little— like a minute later he goes, mate, we've got to get out before it catches fire.

[00:39:31] Stephen Fenech: Because the— but what happens, so that Dawson and Peter pull dozens of oil-soaked soldiers out of the water, including Tommy and Alex. The German bomber crashes into the sea and ignites the oil slick and burns many of them alive. The Moonstone managed to maneuver away, packed to the with rescued men, but below deck Peter goes to check on George.

[00:39:54] Movie Audio: Listen, we have to get as many of you on board as we can before that oil catches fire. You go below deck, you get up my boat, that's your choice. Keep coming.

[00:40:06] Stephen Fenech: So Alex is about to go into the ship. Careful down there.

[00:40:09] Trevor Long: Careful down there. He's worried about them hitting George.

[00:40:12] Movie Audio: He's dead, mate.

[00:40:13] Trevor Long: That's where we find out.

[00:40:18] Movie Audio: Still. So be bloody careful with it.

[00:40:22] Stephen Fenech: Yeah. Cracking. That's amazing. Emotional, emotional. Uh, Farrier, Gonski, fuel completely gone, calmly gliding his Spitfire, manually deploying his landing gear. Yeah, uh, cranking it down, down the plane. That— remember, they've— a plane fired on the moon Moonstone. Yeah, that's the plane he hit. Yeah, before he had to land. Yeah, so he's manually put the gear down just in time, eh, for it to land. Steps out, sets his craft on fire to keep it out of enemy hands, right? He's taken prisoner by German soldiers as the sun sets. Now my bombshell here: the scene where he— this lands— it lands on Dunkirk Beach was done for real on location with an actual Spitfire in flight. Oh wow. First time a plane has landed on that beach since 1940. Wow. Now get the scene, get this. After the scene was completed, the Spitfire became stuck in the sand and there was a rush to get it off the beach before the incoming tide. To add to the, to add to the level of difficulty, the production only had a 45-minute window to get that shot of him landing on the shore before the tide came in. So brilliant Brilliant. Wow. They round up the last of the men off the beach. Come on, Private!

[00:41:49] Movie Audio: I know we're officers, but it's us or the enemy, so now's not the time to be particular. Well, Churchill got his 30,000 and then some. Almost 300,000. Jesus. So far, so far, I'm staying for the French.

[00:42:20] Stephen Fenech: Good on you, Bolton. Meanwhile, back in Dorset, the Moonstone arrives back in England. The shivering soldier, still traumatized, asks how Peter's doing. Yeah. And he says, no, he's fine, he's going to be okay. He doesn't want to burden him with the fact that he died. George's body's carried, carried away.

[00:42:37] Trevor Long: Then he sees the body carried away. Yeah.

[00:42:39] Stephen Fenech: And then— but he's late. No, he doesn't actually. He does. He— no, I don't think he does. He sort of turns away. You reckon he saw it?

[00:42:44] Trevor Long: No, he saw it. So George, you saw it? Because what I, what I took was he saw it and recognized Peter's mindset of not telling him. Okay. He, he, he accepted and was grateful essentially for Peter not telling him on board because it might -driven him insane, you know.

[00:43:03] Stephen Fenech: Yeah, but he's later—

[00:43:04] Trevor Long: good old George is memorialized in the local paper. All he wants to do is— he's done nothing.

[00:43:08] Stephen Fenech: My teacher's seen me in the local paper. Yeah. Jesus Christ. Meanwhile, Tommy and Alex are aboard a train heading through the English countryside, and Alex is a bit ashamed and worried they're going to boo him.

[00:43:20] Trevor Long: Yeah, they lost. He keeps walking around going, we've let you down, we've let them all down and we've lost.

[00:43:24] Stephen Fenech: Yeah. So he's worried they're going to be reviled by the British public for retiring. Retreating and losing the battle. Yeah, but when the train stops, a man doesn't insult them, he pans them beers through the windows. Is there, lads? Party's on. Yeah. Alex opens a newspaper and hands it to Tommy. As the train moves forward, Tommy reads Winston Churchill's historic address to Parliament aloud.

[00:43:49] Movie Audio: We shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans. We shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air. We shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be. What? We shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be. We shall fight on the beaches. We shall fight on the land ground. We shall fight in the fields and in the streets. We shall fight in the hills. We shall never surrender. And even if this island or a large part of it were subjugated and starving, then our empire beyond the seas, armed and guarded by the British fleet, would carry on the struggle until, in God's good time, the New World with all its power and might Might steps forth to the rescue and the liberation of the old.

[00:44:57] Stephen Fenech: Did you know that that was the speech? You know the famous— sure, yeah, we will fight them on the beaches, we will never surrender. That was after Dunkirk.

[00:45:03] Trevor Long: Wow, that was what he read out. No idea.

[00:45:05] Stephen Fenech: No, my bombshell here is, uh, the end credits state that 12 of the original little ships that participated in the Dunkirk evacuation appeared in the movie. No, real reenacting their presence in 1940 in the movie. 12 of them. Wow, they've lasted for— what's that, 90 years? Yeah, 85 years. Did you catch the line, uh, not bad this one, when they hear these planes approaching?

[00:45:33] Movie Audio: Rolls-Royce Merlin engines, sweetest sound you could hear out here. That's lovely.

[00:45:40] Stephen Fenech: Here's a good one too, where remember the Shivering Man, uh, questions what what he's doing. You haven't turned around.

[00:45:50] Movie Audio: Oh, we have a job to do. Job? This is a— this is a pleasure yacht. You're— you're— you're weekend sailors, not the bloody Navy. I'm a man your age. Men my age dictate this war. Why should we be allowed to send our children to fight it? You should be at home. Well, there won't be any home if we allow a slaughter across the Channel. Boom!

[00:46:14] Stephen Fenech: And he knows his job. Cracking line. Uh, here's the one last one.

[00:46:20] Movie Audio: Well done, well done, lads. Well done.

[00:46:26] Trevor Long: All we did is survive. That's enough. That's enough. That's enough. He's handing blankets out.

[00:46:33] Stephen Fenech: That's all we did is survive. That's enough.

[00:46:34] Trevor Long: Yeah, it was an interesting— but that's a really interesting moment because the guy handing out blankets, doesn't look at him, the Harry Styles guy. Yeah, couldn't make eye contact. But because he's blind. Was he blind? So he doesn't make eye contact with Harry Styles, but then the next guy comes through. He's deaf. Yeah, comes through and the way he looks and acts, he's blind because he feels his face. He feels his face, right? And so it makes sense.

[00:47:00] Stephen Fenech: And so Harry Styles mistook that for being too shamed to look at him.

[00:47:03] Trevor Long: That's why he thought everyone was shamed by it. Mate, that was a guy who's not able to fight in the war, just wanted to do his bit for the country.

[00:47:10] Stephen Fenech: Interesting observation, mate. Interesting. Yeah, so good. You're not just here for your looks. No, that's great. How did that happen? There is one little plot hole here. Not so much a plot hole because at the beginning they filmed it where it happened, right? Right. So none of the civilian buildings had any damage. So this is Dunkirk, yeah, 80 years in the future, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Um, between the fighting and the bombardment, much of the town was just completely devastated before the evacuation. There would have been just wreckage behind them, but he's not going to go and just ruin a city just for the sake of the movie.

[00:47:42] Trevor Long: So, or for 3 minutes at the start, have to build a huge— that's right.

[00:47:45] Stephen Fenech: So that might be a bit nitpicky. I'll let him off. Yeah. Now the speaker workout, I've written here, dude, the whole movie. Yeah, he's a speaker. The subwoofer, the bombers.

[00:47:56] Trevor Long: You'll never hear your subwoofer. And I'll tell you this, and I'm not an audiophile, but, but Often I think subwoofers are overused. I think people enhance bass for the wrong reasons. Yeah, they do that, baby. Yeah, but honestly, this one deserved every note, mate. This is not the best use of your sound. This is the best use of a subwoofer.

[00:48:12] Stephen Fenech: Pretty good in any form. So you know what was like, and it starts earlier, the gunfire. Yeah, so loud and sharp and sudden. Boom, right? The bombers, the dogfights, the gunfire, everything was just amazing. Now thank God I got a big screen. Again, start to finish, amazing cinematography. My favorite shot is of Farrier, the crippled member, is gliding in, and in the background you see the beach, and he's just gliding in front of it, and it's sort of tracking him along the beach. The shot of the movie, I think so too.

[00:48:44] Trevor Long: Amazing. 100%.

[00:48:46] Stephen Fenech: Righto, the business now. Some facts here about Dunkirk. The evacuation, codenamed Operation Dynamo, took place on the beaches around Dunkirk, France, from May 27th to June 4th, 1940. 1940. Okay. Located at the northern tip of France near the border with Belgium, Dunkirk sits on the English Channel at one of the waterway's narrowest points. Yeah, right. It allows the British rescue vessels, including private yachts and boats, to reach France in less time. Most of the evacuation boats departed from Dover, uh, and the 3 evacuation routes were used, with the shortest being 39 nautical miles, which took roughly 2 hours to reach the stranded soldiers. Right. Okay. Approximately 11,000 British soldiers lost their lives during the evacuation. Jesus Christ. 11,000 out of 400,000. Jesus. Also known as Operation Overlord, an additional 40,000 soldiers were captured or imprisoned. Uh, in all, around 90,000 Allied soldiers were either wounded, killed, or taken prisoner. Jesus Christ. The Germans destroyed 177 Allied aircraft, sank more than 200 ships, including 6 British and 3 French destroyers. Destroyers. Still, the British managed to rescue 338,000 soldiers from the beaches around Dunkirk, and Allied planes shot down 240 German aircraft. Boom. Okay, not hard to work out, uh, what the theme or lesson is here, uh, bravery, duty, courage. Like, courage, it's all there. Yeah, best use of the pause button, the headline in the local paper. I paused that and even read the first paragraph. Local boy George Mills, just 17, hero at Dunkirk. He was aboard the Moonstone that pulled several soldiers from the dark oily channel, is what it said. Uh, things you might not know. According to Sir Kenneth Branagh, who played Bolton, roughly 30 Dunkirk survivors, all in their mid-90s, attended the premiere in London, and when asked about the movie, they said it captured the event, but the soundtrack was louder than the actual bombardment. So yeah, oh, that's amazing. Which, uh, really, it was a really amused, uh, Sir Christopher Nolan when it was heard. Now, on, uh, our man Harry Styles. Yeah, when he cast, it was controversial casting. Everything is Really? And here's what he said: I auditioned literally thousands of young men with different combinations of young men, and he had it. In an interview, he compared the casting of Harry Styles to the casting of Heath Ledger as the Joker in The Dark Knight because people also underestimated him. Wow. I think it's a big call. Heath Ledger's performance is a little bit better than his, but anyway, big call. Uh, now, and at 1 hour and 46 minutes. This is Christopher Nolan's shortest movie since his debut film. It's also over an hour shorter than his previous movie, which was Interstellar. There you go, right? Did you notice?

[00:52:02] Trevor Long: Don't know.

[00:52:03] Stephen Fenech: Well, even though Tom Hardy was the top billing actor, right, his face was only seen for a few moments. He spent most of the time behind his oxygen mask in the Spitfire. Ironically, in another Christopher Nolan film, he plays, uh, in The Dark Knight Rises, he plays a character called Bane, and his face is also covered up in that for the whole movie. Wow. Nearly the whole movie. Uh, what's the meme? I like this one. What can you see? And the answer is home.

[00:52:35] Trevor Long: Remember that line? That's a cracker.

[00:52:37] Stephen Fenech: Uh, we can't go back. And also, I think the 'we'll fight them on the beaches,' you know, the whole, the that whole bit. Uh, by any other name, I don't think you can call it anything else. Stop it. My other— my suggestion was Air, Land and Sea.

[00:52:51] Trevor Long: Oh yeah, Air, Land and Sea, or Civilian Fleet.

[00:52:53] Stephen Fenech: Yeah, or Crossroads. It's like a crossroad of the war, you know. Yeah, although not many roads involved. But, uh, the one thing you want—

[00:53:00] Trevor Long: oh mate, I, I'll take one of the uniforms. I would take one of the boats today. Like, if I was a billionaire, yeah, I'd buy all of the remaining boats.

[00:53:09] Stephen Fenech: Imagine, yeah, the ones that would—

[00:53:11] Trevor Long: the real ones. Yeah, like imagine that, what an artifact.

[00:53:14] Stephen Fenech: From the movie, I'll take uniforms, binoculars, Farrier's oxygen mask, you know, the pilot. Yeah, and the Moonstone. So yeah, give me the Moonstone.

[00:53:22] Trevor Long: Yeah, take it.

[00:53:24] Stephen Fenech: Righto, 3 questions for Trev. Uh, first one: were you aware of the story of Dunkirk before watching this? Nothing, zero.

[00:53:31] Trevor Long: So this is— that's— I'm idiot me, not a historian.

[00:53:33] Stephen Fenech: Yeah, but you know what, like, I don't read books. I had an idea of this, but I didn't know the detail of it. The detail was marvelously portrayed here. Yeah. Uh, question 2: does this make you want to watch more war movies? It does.

[00:53:46] Trevor Long: I like— I'm— and we— like, I'm not a historian, I'm not— I don't read it, but I'm fascinated by it and want to know it. Okay. Do you know what I mean?

[00:53:54] Stephen Fenech: So like, you know, because I'd imagine this is in your wheelhouse. It's based on reality. Absolutely. It's real. Yeah.

[00:53:59] Trevor Long: So yeah, yeah, no, 100%. Okay.

[00:54:01] Stephen Fenech: Uh, question 3: too long, too short, or just right?

[00:54:04] Trevor Long: Just absolutely perfect. This was perfect.

[00:54:06] Stephen Fenech: It great length.

[00:54:07] Trevor Long: By the way, the credits were like 4 minutes, so it actually ended 4 minutes early, like in my world. Very nice.

[00:54:13] Stephen Fenech: All right, um, that's it. Give us your wrap-up and rating.

[00:54:17] Trevor Long: I mean, it's a great movie, and especially given you've not told me anything that's highly inaccurate about it, that makes me really happy.

[00:54:24] Stephen Fenech: It was absolutely spot on.

[00:54:25] Trevor Long: Yeah, makes me unbelievably happy because I'm worried you're going to tell me a lot of it was fluff.

[00:54:29] Stephen Fenech: Oh yeah, there was maybe characters that were merged to reflect it, but the actual story was real to the The events and story was real. Yeah, the story was real, and that's remarkable.

[00:54:38] Trevor Long: Correct. I could watch it again. I loved every minute of it. It was, as I said, it was confusing to understand it, but on a rewatch you'll think, ah, yes, I think you'd see more of it. Yeah. And you know, I found it highly emotional. I found it highly emotional.

[00:54:55] Stephen Fenech: Yeah.

[00:54:56] Trevor Long: You know, little George in the newspaper.

[00:54:58] Stephen Fenech: Because you know what, you're emotionally invested in the movie. You're emotionally invested.

[00:55:01] Trevor Long: But also I think there's something about war movies that makes you— I genuinely don't think anything like this could happen today. Not because wars like this won't happen again, but because we would just never go. Yeah.

[00:55:13] Stephen Fenech: Like, you appreciate the sacrifice.

[00:55:16] Trevor Long: I'm the coward on the beach handing out bloody blankets when they get home. At best, I'm pretending to be blind, you know, so I get out of it. So yeah, excellent. It's a 9.5.

[00:55:27] Stephen Fenech: 5 for me. Yeah, well, I'm a 9. Yeah, you're higher than me.

[00:55:31] Trevor Long: Yeah, I looked at some of the 9s and I went, I've got better than those, you know what I mean?

[00:55:34] Stephen Fenech: Yeah, it's 9. Oh, I stick to my 9. Pretty good. Very good, actually. Okay, you want to hear about next week?

[00:55:40] Trevor Long: I wouldn't mind writing it, writing it down so I can remember what to watch next week.

[00:55:44] Stephen Fenech: Now this is— oh, you know, I've been waiting. This, this show's nearly 5 years old. I've been on this show, I've been waiting for the— to do this movie because it's never been on any streaming services until now. Really? This is a hidden gem. The movie's called Strange Days. What? It's starring— I'll tell you right now, I've never heard of it. Released in 1995, starring Ralph Fiennes, Angela Bassett, and Juliette Lewis. Made in '95, and it's set on New Year's Eve '99 into 2000 in a dystopian, different sort of world that we're there living in at the time, and you will watch it and appreciate it. And it's obviously, like I said, I've been waiting. This has been on my list since 2021. And where's it popped up? Disney Plus, right? It's just appeared on Disney Plus, so get into it. Now, it was directed by Kathryn Bigelow, famous director. I think she's won an Oscar or Oscar-nominated. Is she Juice's mum? Uh, no, no, she's not. But she was married at the time to a great director.

[00:56:53] Trevor Long: Oh, stop it.

[00:56:54] Stephen Fenech: Is it A, Sam Mendes, B, Steven Spielberg, C, James Cameron, or D, Martin Scorsese? Spielberg. No, James Cameron actually co-wrote this with her. Wow. So he was involved. They were together at the time.

[00:57:12] Trevor Long: He was involved there as well. Yeah, absolutely.

[00:57:13] Stephen Fenech: Yeah. So he he is, I think, as a producer and co-writer of the movie, I believe. Yeah, so that's next week, mate. Hidden gem. Strange Days. But glad you enjoyed.

[00:57:22] Trevor Long: That's what this podcast is all about.

[00:57:24] Stephen Fenech: That's it. I'm glad you enjoyed Dunkirk. Join me next week for Strange Days. I'll be here.