DUNKIRK

Dunkirk could have been just another film about battles, strategies, and political decisions. The historical event allows for this. The focus could have been on Churchill’s tension until the relief of the British troops' withdrawal, just as it could have been on the resistance of the troops in retreating from a lost battle, yet facing an insatiable enemy.

But the film succeeds in focusing on the responsibility of the ordinary citizen. The courageous act of the English people in rescuing their soldiers is not just heroism—it is civility in its highest form. This is what gives meaning to the officer’s words (once cornered, now hopeful) as he looks at the small civilian boats and says: "Our home."

The centrality of civilians' actions is striking—striking to the point of changing how we feel about the famous "We shall never surrender" speech. Outside the film, Churchill’s words sound like encouragement to an England portrayed as the last Western barrier against Hitler’s authoritarianism, given the non-aggression pact with the USSR.

Within the film, Churchill’s words sound like a statement of fact. The soldier who expects to be booed upon returning home undergoes a transformation in just a few minutes—first through the warmth with which he is received, and second through the prime minister’s words, which merely confirm his experience of returning. A deep yet brief psychological shift that, in other characters, might take more time—seasons in some TV series—but here it happens quickly because the soldier was welcomed home, despite the defeat.