Dunkirk

[Santa's Boyfriend]

Just saw the trailer for this - a rather large production by the BBC to rival Band of Brothers?  Or another documentary?  It looks interesting from the trailer, whatever it turns out to be.

Will anyone be capping it?

EDIT:  Sorry, this should have been in the radio times thread...

[hoverdonkey]

Looks like it might be quite good. Would have to go some to beat Band of Brothers, but will watch it with interest.

[big dogs cock]

There's going to be rolling interview footage with survivers on interactive afterwards too apparently, you often get much more of a feeling of what it must have like just by watching their faces reliving it than any amount of big-budget reconstruction.

I'm unsure of the format of the show as well, and I can't find any info on the BBC site. Docu or drama, or combination of the two?

[TOCMFIC]

I don't think Band of Brothers will EVER be bested personally.

[Santa's Boyfriend]

There's going to be rolling interview footage with survivers on interactive afterwards too apparently, you often get much more of a feeling of what it must have like just by watching their faces reliving it than any amount of big-budget reconstruction.

I'm unsure of the format of the show as well, and I can't find any info on the BBC site. Docu or drama, or combination of the two?

Combination of the two it looks like.  I imagine it'll be similar to Days That Shook The World - which was a fantastic series in itself.

And I agree - Band of Brothers would take some serious fucking beating.

[Nostalgia For Infinity]

I wonder what British unit you could use to film a BoB equivalent.

The Canadians played a big role as well, Dieppe and Caen spring to mind.

[@ssmaster]

I will look forward to this one, hopefully the BBC won't fuck it up. I doubt they will though. I will watch it with a thought for my long departed Grandad who was one of the soldiers who swam to safety with his friend who got shot right next to him and died. That was one of the most hard hitting stories I have ever been told and only increases my admiration for all of the men who fought in that war.

[Santa's Boyfriend]

I wonder what British unit you could use to film a BoB equivalent.

The Canadians played a big role as well, Dieppe and Caen spring to mind.

That's the thing that I've gradually discovered about the war - it was so mind-bogglingly huge that there are more incredible stories than we could ever really hope to get on film - everyone did something.

I'd quite like to see something about the Indian soldiers.  I'd also like to see more about the Russian side of the conflict - it's them that won the war more than anyone else.  All we've really got is Enemy at the Gates - and that's not even a true story.

[hoverdonkey]

I'd also like to see more about the Russian side of the conflict - it's them that won the war more than anyone else.  All we've really got is Enemy at the Gates - and that's not even a true story.

Cross of Iron comes from the point of view of the Germans in Russia, but yes, I can't think of a film I've seen which really gives the Russians' point of view. The last level of Call of Duty is the closest.

[Capuchin]

What about Stalingrad? I haven't seen it yet, myself.

[smoker]

What about Stalingrad? I haven't seen it yet, myself.

again germans in russia. really harsh viewing that film was

[Capuchin]

What about Stalingrad? I haven't seen it yet, myself.

again germans in russia. really harsh viewing that film was

Aaaah , didn't know the POV it had.

[Nostalgia For Infinity]

The only Russian/East European film I can think off with a Soviet perspective is Come See. Haven't seen it yet.

Would like to see the Burmese Harp, sounds interesting.

[Santa's Boyfriend]

What about Stalingrad? I haven't seen it yet, myself.

again germans in russia. really harsh viewing that film was

I've tried to watch Stalingrad - but the fact that every copy I've seen in the UK is dubbed really put me off.  I just can't watch dubbed films anymore.  Bastards.  You'd think a german audio track with english subs wouldn't be so hard for the DVD, but noooo...

[Santa's Boyfriend]

I dunno about you lot, but I was really disappointed.  Looks like they didn't have the budget to do a strong reconstruction, but the material was there to make one hell of a powerful film/tv series.  Unfortunately the acting was poor, it was intercut with stock footage which just kept reminding me that what I was watching was a reconstruction, and the narrator kept putting me off.  Hand it over to the Band of Brothers people, I say.

[smoker]

that bit in the shed was pretty harrowing, and well-shot. almost felt like you were in there with them.

[Timmay]

that bit in the shed was pretty harrowing, and well-shot.

I see what you did there, you sick bastard. ;)

But yes, that bit stood out as being particularly involving.

[Abbie]

I dunno about you lot, but I was really disappointed. Looks like they didn't have the budget to do a strong reconstruction, but the material was there to make one hell of a powerful film/tv series. Unfortunately the acting was poor, it was intercut with stock footage which just kept reminding me that what I was watching was a reconstruction, and the narrator kept putting me off. Hand it over to the Band of Brothers people, I say.

Seconded.   What I loved so much about Band of Brothers was the chance you were given to get to know the soliders and in most cases get to like them.  When they were killed off one by one you genuinely felt like shouting "Nooooooo!" at the TV.    There are other massive contrasts between the two - compare the beeb scene of the luftwaffe bombing Dunkirk to the shelling scene outside Bastogne in Band of Brothers.   I appreciate that there is probably a huge difference in budget expenditure but even so I thought it was poor in comparison.   Waiting around on the beach at Dunkirk with German Panzers fast approaching and the shrill sound of the luftwaffe diving above your head must have been absolutely terrifying and I don't think the horrendous nature of the situation really reached the viewer.    The mix of real footage, narrative and dramatised scenes made the whole thing feel 'cobbled together' and the acting was shite as well which just made matters worse.  Those men were lacking genuine fear, damn them!  

RANT IN SUMMARY:  It's clear that the Beeb havent thrown enough money at this which is a shame as it really doesn't do our boys justice.

[MonkeyDrummer]

i thought it was ok, but my Grandad was captured there pretty much like the boys that got blown up in the hut did. He got cut off from his group with a couple of his mates, wandered around for a while, bumped into german soldiers and spent the next 5 years there, so from a personal point of view i quite enjoyed it. Although i do concur that the sense of fear wasn't particurarly well portrayed and i had to fill those gaps in myself.

[Purple Tentacle]

It got my old imagination fired up so I think there was quite a bit of hole-filling going on from me as well, but I thought the shed bit was very well, erm, shot, and I was also pleased to see grisly shots with blood spurting, rather than the usual television cop-out of cutting to a wincing face, or scared birds or something.

Poor old BBC though, although they are swimming in cash they can never hope to compete with the American networks, so I feel that budgetary comparissons with Band Of Brothers is a tad unfair, it seemed quite a game attempt to me, and I'll be interested in watching it tonight.


Phil Cornwell's in it by the looks of things.

[Abbie]

i thought it was ok, but my Grandad was captured there pretty much like the boys that got blown up in the hut did. He got cut off from his group with a couple of his mates, wandered around for a while, bumped into german soldiers and spent the next 5 years there, so from a personal point of view i quite enjoyed it. Although i do concur that the sense of fear wasn't particurarly well portrayed and i had to fill those gaps in myself.

My gramps was there too, although rather than wait to be rescued him and a couple of mates spent 6 months ducking and diving through war torn Europe, eventually reaching Sweden and getting on a fishing trawler back to Scotland.  He's not alive anymore but I would be interested in hearing the opinions on the show from people who were actually there.

Poor old BBC though, although they are swimming in cash they can never hope to compete with the American networks.....

They could atleast make an effort to though...

[hands cold, liver warm]

I thought it was good. The acting was alright and the story was decently told. It is a three parter (i think) so the exciting bits are still to come.

I watched newsnight review (sorry) and they talked about this. One woman complained that Dunkirk was too one sided and portrayed the germans as baddies.

I almost had a stroke.

[zozman]

I watched newsnight review (sorry) and they talked about this. One woman complained that Dunkirk was too one sided and portrayed the germans as baddies.

I almost had a stroke.

ah ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha a lot.

[MonkeyDrummer]

i thought it was ok, but my Grandad was captured there pretty much like the boys that got blown up in the hut did. He got cut off from his group with a couple of his mates, wandered around for a while, bumped into german soldiers and spent the next 5 years there, so from a personal point of view i quite enjoyed it. Although i do concur that the sense of fear wasn't particurarly well portrayed and i had to fill those gaps in myself.

My gramps was there too, although rather than wait to be rescued him and a couple of mates spent 6 months ducking and diving through war torn Europe, eventually reaching Sweden and getting on a fishing trawler back to Scotland.  He's not alive anymore but I would be interested in hearing the opinions on the show from people who were actually there.

Poor old BBC though, although they are swimming in cash they can never hope to compete with the American networks.....

They could atleast make an effort to though...

My gramps is still alive, the stories he tells are amazing. He told me that just before he was captured him and his mates were just dodging through some fields/trees etc and they could hear this noise. They didn't have a clue what it was and carried on until they realised it was sniper bullets. Such was the naivety of our "soldiers", pah! boys more like. They ran and hid in an old building and waited. The German division came rolling past and one of my gramps mates took a peek to see what was going on....it was the last thing he ever did. Only thing our heroes could do was stick their hands up as far as he could and pray.
They were then marched to Germany catching dissentry along the way and having to be carried by his friend for a long part of the journey. His friend was killed by a runaway car a few years ago, God only knows how that ripped my Grandad apart. He spent 5 years in a POW camp watching Jews hang and lippy POW's get shot....and he was one of the lucky ones

[hands cold, liver warm]

my grandad is polish and he was thrown out by his dad when he was a kid. He was forced to work on a german farm and he was there when war broke out. He was told that he either had to join the german army or be treated as an enemy and be shot. So my grandad was part of the german army that invaded france and fought the british at dunkirk. To his credit, he went AWOL from the nazi's after they had taken Paris and joined a polish section of the french resistance. Later he fled to england.

All that hardship might explain why he has turned out to be such an awful human being.

[Santa's Boyfriend]

Wasn't that the guy from Dead Ringers in tonights episode?

[Pythov]

I'll be looking out for my Grandad in tommorows programme.  All I know is that he may be seen in his underpants carrying his commanding officer.
Actually, if I see fotage of this it might not match up to the imagination I have of this story, so maybe I better not watch.

[Abbie]

Wasn't that the guy from Dead Ringers in tonights episode?

Yeah, Phil Cornwell.  Mind you I didn't watch it as I was watching 24, but I saw a clip.  Was it any better this evening?

[Santa's Boyfriend]

I'll be looking out for my Grandad in tommorows programme.  All I know is that he may be seen in his underpants carrying his commanding officer.

What the hell was he doing?

"Come on sarge, we're going to die anyway..."

[Purple Tentacle]

I was just chuffed because they mentioned Ramsgate, Margate and Chiswick in the same sentence, thus summing up my entire life.