The Lessons of 'Dunkirk'
THE LESSONS OF DUNKIRK
I was excited to see Dunkirk arrive on Netflix last Friday because it’s the one Christopher Nolan movie I hadn’t yet seen. And I always like his stuff.
But I hadn’t known what to expect. I mean, I like a good war movie, I’m there for that. But this? A ‘big’ Nolan movie about a retreat? I hadn’t been sure.
But when UUABQ Reverend Bob Lavallee made it part of his sunday sermon, I knew that I needed to watch. I’m glad I did. It’s a moving piece, and the movie of his I’ve gotten most emotionally invested in. And it’s not because of a sacrifice theme - which is in many of his other movies and I’m always there for that. That’s in there, sure, but there’s something deeper and unexpected that grabbed me, and that’s the more subtle theme of doing the right thing; of many people doing the right thing.
Dunkirk, of course, was the end of a key phase of World War II, when Nazi Germany was still ascendant and seemingly unstoppable. It capped the tremendous defeat of French and British forces with what seemed likely to be another disastrous defeat.
That there was something noble and almost victorious in that defeat is still a surprise.
I can’t help but see the movie in the light of our own political turmoil and COVID response.
Like many people, but perhaps not enough, I’m disappointed by our governments’ backing away from a more robust COVID response. It’s tough to think that those leaders who’ve been strong in responding and have now backed away are really doing the right thing.
But I think I and many others don’t have two things front of mind: first, the power of our governments has been diminished.* Intentionally damaged and weakened by forces both foreign and domestic. Second, as much as I hate to use war metaphors in politics, they are fighting a bigger, longer war.
When the movie Dunkirk came out in 2017, I’m sure part of my calculation in not seeing it was that I was tired and not up to paying to see a war movie alone. But today, in a time when I believe the government is generally trying to do the right thing, I saw parallels and themes I wouldn’t have caught earlier.
Mostly that sometimes our governments aren’t as powerful as we’d sometimes like them to be. They can’t actually vaccinate everyone or bring the whole fleet to defend their armies AND also win the larger conflict. They’ve got to be able to continue to fight.
And that sometimes we’ve also got to be able to count on the people in general to do the right thing. To pick up the slack when governments can’t do what they’d like to do. To organize locally and accomplish some of the smaller tasks that will also save people’s lives.
I wish we weren’t here today. That Nazi Germany hadn’t existed. That so many states and politicians hadn’t fought against saving so many people’s lives. But we are where we are. And it’s more important than ever for all of us - or as many as possible - to do the right thing.
Here’s that sermon from 3/13/2022:
*I also watched “Lincoln” recently about the fight for the 13th amendment and recall the stories of Lyndon B. Johnson and the fight for the the Civil Rights Act of 1964, so I’m reminded that even ‘powerful’ governments are rarely all powerful.