ABOVE:
To avoid depicting
aircraft of any
particular squadron,
the Spitfires
involved in Dunkirk
wear code letters
LC, these having
been allocated in
reality to the Station
Flight at RAF
Feltwell.
MELINDA SUE GORDON/
WARNER BROS PICTURES30 http://www.aeroplanemonthly.com AEROPLANE SEPTEMBER 2017manoeuvrability or Red Tails with CGI
computer game graphics. In fact, the
employment and use of real aircraft
most of all evokes 1969’s Battle of
Britain, which may well be deliberate.
Keep an ear cocked for the voice of the
fighter controller, which many will find
strangely familiar.
In addition to Comanche Fighters’
Spitfires — the MkIa pair of X4650
and AR213, one of which was landed
on a northern French beach as part of
the filming, joined by LFVb EP122
— the Aircraft Restoration Company’s
Bristol Blenheim IF puts in a welcome
appearance, and the Spitfires’ main
antagonist is represented by Historic
Flying’s Hispano HA-1112-M1L
Buchón (a Battle of Britain veteran,
of course) playing numerous
Messerschmitt Bf 109Es. Other aerial
work, notably with Heinkel He 111s
and Junkers Ju 87s, as well as sundry
crashings and ditchings, is performed
with large-scale flying models and
mock-ups. Some of the ‘Stuka’ scenesin particular were filmed ‘live’, cleverly
using forced perspective, rather than
compositing the aircraft onto scenes
with actors. Here, the commitment to
a look and feel that’s as real as possible
definitely makes a difference on screen
as the interactions effectively are real.At sea, the presence of a real
destroyer — the Maille-Brez, towed
laboriously from Nantes to appear
in the film shoot off Dunkirk itself
— is prominent, playing two British
destroyers. It may not be quite the real
deal, but being a 1950s vessel based
on a 1930s design, it’s as close as any
film is likely to get these days. The
minesweepers standing in for other
warships large and small are shot
cleverly, angles and distances rendering
them convincing enough to do the job.
A number of the ‘little ships’ need no
such sleight of hand as they are the
genuine articles. The scenes set at sea
are every bit as pulse-racing as thoseDUNKIRK FILM
in the air — it becomes clear to the
characters as it becomes clear to the
audience that finding their way onto a
ship was not the end of the nightmare,
only the exchange of one set of
dangers for another. These sequences
are as immersive, in more ways
than one, as the aerial action. In the
attempts to capture one of the film’s
most striking scenes live, one of the
hideously expensive IMAX cameras
on which Dunkirk was filmed sank to
the bottom of the English Channel,
necessitating a complex retrieval and
desperate efforts to save the film and
its footage. It was worth it.
While Dunkirk is not overly violent,
the sheer intensity of the scenario
means it is certainly not for the
faint-hearted. In a sense, that’s the
point. Nolan puts the audience right
in the heads of the soldiers desperate
to escape the trap any way they can,
and the airmen and sailors putting
themselves into harm’s way to help
save lives. Not everyone behavesNolan puts the audience right in
the heads of the soldiers desperate
to escape the trap any way they can,
and the airmen and sailors putting
themselves into harm’s way to help
save lives
26-31_AM_DUNKIRK_Sept17_cc C.indd 30 31/07/2017 14:39