I usually tend to steer clear of war movies. Dunkirk was definitely a movie I wanted to stay away from, until my husband asked me to bring it home for him from the Library. It tells the story of the evacuation of Allied troops from the beaches at Dunkirk before the Nazi forces can take hold. From the perspective of land, sea and sky, the movie depicts any and all efforts being made to save these soldiers and get them out of harms way. On the beach, over 300,000 men are sitting ducks – waiting for their turn to board a ship back home. Unable to find shelter in the open, they can either fall to the ground to protect themselves, or open fire as enemy air forces drop their bombs along the beach. In the sea, military ships are being attacked as they attempt to rescue the remaining troops on the beach. As a result, civilian boats are commissioned to make their way to the beaches of Dunkirk in the hopes of saving more soldiers. In the sky, British Air Forces seek to protect those on land and in the sea, opening fire on enemy planes, ships and gunmen down below.

I suspect that one of the reasons why I don’t gravitate toward movies such as this, is because once it is over, I continue to think about these real life stories. I picture men, both young and old, fighting for their countries, fighting for themselves, fighting to protect the ones they love. Men who have risked losing their lives, their loved ones, and even the essence of who they are in order to provide a better world for those back home. I end up crying for hours afterward – Dunkirk was no exception to this.