Dunkirk, June 2, 1940

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Movie
German title Dunkirk, June 2, 1940
Original title Week-end à Zuydcoote
Country of production France , Italy
original language French
Publishing year 1964
length 119 minutes
Age rating FSK 16
Rod
Director Paul Dufour
Henri Verneuil
script François Boyer
production Robert Hakim
Raymond Hakim
music Maurice Jarre
camera Charles H. Montel
Alain Douarinou , Henri Decaë
cut Claude Durand
occupation

Dunkirk, June 2, 1940 is a 1964 French film directed by Paul Dufour and Henri Verneuil and a film adaptation of the novel Weekend in Zuidcoote by Robert Merle .

action

The film is set near Dunkirk on June 1 and 2, 1940, during the Battle of France in World War II . In the hasty retreat from the German troops , dispersed British and French troops gather around the city of Dunkirk . The British are embarked for England from the beaches around Dunkirk, but French soldiers are denied access to the evacuation ships. So the soldiers wander around in the dunes near Zuydcoote and Bray-Dunes without orientation, morality and discipline .

A small group of four French soldiers form a "club" that waits for further developments in a wreck of a Red Cross truck in the dunes. The four are Alexandre, Dhéry, Pastor Pierson and Julien Maillat. Everyone tries in their own way to cope with the situation and take advantage of the best of circumstances.

Dhéry seeks his personal profit with all kinds of stolen goods and courtesy services. Through such machinations he obtained a certificate from the assistant doctor Cirilli, which marked him unfit for war, and he also rented a room nearby. As a civilian, he would like to get off scot-free even in the event of a German occupation and is counting on good stolen goods, in which he purchases goods from the black market and wants to sell them lucratively to the future occupiers. Maillat should use his knowledge of German to help him negotiate with future “customers”. So Dhéry expects France to be finally defeated, wants to make personal profit from it and has no remorse whatsoever.

Maillat's declared goal is to get to England. He repeatedly tries to get on one of the evacuation ships, but is regularly turned away by the British. During one of the many German air raids, the machine gunner Pinot succeeds in shooting down a German fighter plane. This made Captain Robinson aware of Pinot and Maillat, and thanked him with a tip: Captain Gerald Clarck in Bray-Dunes would issue special permits with which the French would also be able to embark.

In Bray-Dunes Maillat has to wait until he is admitted to Captain Clarck, and in the meantime he meets Jeanne and her sister Antoinette. Jeanne is obsessed with protecting her house and cannot be persuaded to flee even when her sister moves to relatives in the hinterland.

When Maillat is finally allowed to see Captain Clarck, he is given the special permit requested. But at the loading stations on the beach Maillat is regularly turned back by the British officers. He also made the acquaintance of the British John and his newlywed wife Hélène. The couple also want to board an evacuation ship, but the British guards do not allow French or women, and John does not want to go alone. They use the confusion during another German air raid to escape the guards with a rowboat onto an evacuation ship.

Maillat meets Captain Robinson again on the beach, who ultimately helps him personally to get on an evacuation ship. Maillat meets John again on the ship, and the illegal presence of Hélène on the ship is exposed. But Captain Robinson also stands up for John and Hélène. Before the ship can leave for England, it is targeted by German dive bombers and set on fire. Robinson and Hélène are killed in the bombing, and John does not want to separate from his wife, but remains on the burning ship. Maillat saves himself by jumping into the water.

Back on the bank, Maillat seeks out Jeanne again, just in time to save her from being raped by French soldiers. He tries again to persuade Jeanne to flee and confronts her with an ultimatum: Jeanne has to choose between the house and Maillat, Maillat wants to wait for her at the old Sani truck in the dunes until 7 a.m. While Maillat is waiting for them in the now depopulated dunes, he falls victim to a last German artillery attack just before Jeanne reaches the dune.

Other actors

Other actors in the film are Alan Adair , Robert Bazil , Gerard Darrieu , Raoul Delfosse , Robert Deslandes , Jean Claude Dubois , Jacques Ferriere , Bob Lerrick , Colin Mann , Christian Melsen , Bernard Musson , Robert Napier , Donald O'Brien , René Panetra , Paul Pavel , Paul Préboist , Robert Rollis , Eric Sinclair , Rolf Spath , Anthony Stuart , Julien Verdier , Louis Viret and Dominique Zardi .

Reviews

The lexicon of international films judged: “A war film staged at great expense, which neglects historical truth in favor of an effective cinema story and whose bitter message is drowned in effects.” The Protestant film observer comes to a similar conclusion : “Colored super spectacle, full of cynicisms and Contempt for human beings that falsifies history, sells truth for the sake of business to popular gallows humor. To be rejected. "

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Dunkirk, June 2, 1940. In: Lexicon of international film . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 
  2. Evangelischer Presseverband München, Review No. 111/1965, p. 220