Join Dr Mark Barnard

Thursday 20th November

10.30-12.30am

for a morning talk £4.50

Churchill transformed the 1940 evacuation of 338,000 Allied troops from Dunkirk from a "disastrous defeat" into a "miracle of deliverance." This event has since secured what some claim is a "semi-sacred" position in Britain's collective consciousness. But does Christopher Nolan's 2017 film Dunkirk reinforce or challenge this national mythology?

Nolan's film has been noted for its departure from traditional heroic war narratives, potentially representing the universal experience of defeated armies rather than exclusively British triumphalism. This raises compelling questions about how media reception varied across national boundaries, particularly in Germany and France, whose historical perspectives on the event differ significantly from Britain's.

This analysis explores how Dunkirk has been interpreted by British and German media, examining whether the film transcends national narratives to offer a more nuanced portrayal of this pivotal historical moment, or if it ultimately reinforces existing cultural interpretations.