It’s likely that of the three movies this year that deal with Operation Dynamo—Dunkirk,Darkest Hour, andTheir Finest—two of them will earn Oscar nominations (Dunkirkin a variety of categories andDarkest Hourprobably earns a Best Actor nod forGary Oldman). With that in mind, a fan has mashed up the trailers forDunkirkandDarkest Hourto imagine what it would be like if the two stories were combined.
It is somewhat impressive that both movies are so separate despite technically dealing with the same event. Churchill is a peripheral figure inDunkirk, which largely opts for a borderline-experimental approach asChristopher Nolanattempts for experiential filmmaking. Meanwhile,Darkest Hourkeeps the battles largely in the background, choosing to show the defeat at Calais but not the successful evacuation at Dunkirk.
But looking at this trailer, while it’s a nice way of highlighting both films, I’m kind of glad this particular movie doesn’t exist because it would deprive bothDunkirkandDarkest Hourof their specific visions. Although I’m sure there are some folks out there that would want a more comprehensive vision of these events, that’s what books are for rather than two-hour movies. I’m glad that we have a film likeDunkirk, which is all about trying to put you in the middle of the warfare as much as a PG-13 rating will allow; and that we also have a movie likeDarkest Hour, which takes you behind the scenes and into the politics that led up to the evacuation.
Check out the fan trailer below.Dunkirkis now available on 4K, Blu-ray, and DVD whileDarkest Houris in theaters. Also,Their Finest, which uses Dunkirk as a jumping off point for a movie about propaganda, is worth a rental if you want to check it out.
