Joshua Levine, the historical advisor of the movie ‘Dunkirk’ directed by Christopher Nolan, came to my school to talk about his experience working on Dunkirk, and the historical basis of the movie, which relays the events that occurred on Dunkirk beach in World War II.

Dunkirk was an epic box-office success released in 2017. It gained a lot of attention for its use of outstanding action rather than wordy dialogue to portray the significance of Dunkirk. Levine described how the movie was 3 plotlines merged together: perspectives from the air (the royal air force), the sea (sailors) and the land (the soldiers). This was done to show the vast amount of varying accounts of the events in Dunkirk: Levine said that of the people he had spoken to who’d experienced Dunkirk, none had the exact same story. The use of 3 storylines helped the audience gain a broader viewpoint on the event.

Josh Levine stated that, when he was working with Christopher Nolan to write the movie, he spoke to a number of World War II veterans to confirm the movies historical accuracy. Many of the veterans first-hand experiences were translated directly into the movie, claimed Levine. For example, one of the veterans described how some soldiers committed suicide by walking out to sea declaring they were 'going home’ to England, which is only about 50 miles away from Dunkirk. This very story was exhibited in a scene from Dunkirk in which one sees a soldier walking into the depths of the sea.

Levine also responded to the criticism Dunkirk received after it’s release due to the lack of acknowledgement of the significant role the Indian Army played in the war. Levine said that amongst the hundreds of thousands of soldiers at Dunkirk, there was one Indian company comprised of a couple of hundred soldiers. “Statistically at Dunkirk, you were unlikely to see many Indians,” said Levine, although he speculated whether it is our obligation to present the part minorities played in history.

Dunkirk was an incredible movie which portrayed the extremely significant events of Dunkirk, which, before the movie, were not as widely known. It allowed us to gain more awareness of the event and honour the people involved.