A EUROPEAN UNION PRODUCTION
Remakes of World War II dramas are all the rage. Hot on the heels of the forthcoming Dad’s army movie comes news that filming begins soon on a remake of Dunkirk.
The 1958 ealing studios classic, about the evacuation of British expeditionary forces from the beaches of Northern France, starred Richard attenborough and John mills and was directed by Leslie Norman. The 2016 version stars kenneth Branagh and mark Rylance and will be directed by Christopher Nolan, of The Dark knight and Interstellar fame.
Despite the array of talent involved, I’m approaching the latest Dad’s army film with trepidation. How do you improve on perfection, especially when the original is still fresh in the memory? Dunkirk may not be repeated on TV as often as the adventures of Captain mainwaring and the Walmington-on-sea Home Guard, but it remains one of the greatest British war films ever made.
The special effects were impressive for the time, although obviously no match f or today’s computer-generated pyrotechnics. so expect the new, big-budget production to have blood and gore to surpass even steven spielberg’s saving Private Ryan.
But, fine actors though they are, I doubt even Branagh and Rylance can better the exemplary performances of Johnny mills and dear, dear Dickie attenborough — whose nuanced portrayal of a black market ‘businessman’ is right up there with his Pinky in Brighton Rock.
Unless Nolan plans to put Branagh in a Batman suit and have the Caped Crusader single-handedly saving the remains of the retreating British army, then I can’t see what he hopes to achieve.
Instead of sticking to the original storyline, he should go the whole hog and bring Dunkirk bang up to date, to reflect the world as it is today, not as it was at the start of World War II in 1940. He’s got plenty of material to work with . . .
To: Christopher Nolan, Warner Bros. Studios, Hollywood, California. Subject: Synopsis for proposed motion picture: Dunkirk 2016, The Sequel.
EUROPE is once again in turmoil, and millions are on the move as a result of the insanity of an expansionist German leader, Frau merkel.
Berlin’s takeover of the Continent has shattered the old order, torn down borders and flooded europe with refugees. From Hungary in the west, to sweden in the north and the Greek island of Lesbos in the south, the local populations are under siege.
Reports come in daily of rapes, sexual assaults and robberies, as the invading army marches inexorably east towards the Channel, storming railway stations and tearing down barbed-wire barriers in their way.
In France and Belgium, gangs of armed assassins — many of them home-grown fifth columnists — have spread terror, shooting up civilian targets, including cafes, supermarkets and theatres.
DesPITe an ostentatious display of solidarity, after a murderous attack on a satirical magazine headquarters in Paris, the politicians have proved as clueless as they are useless. one by one, the nations of europe have surrendered in the face of overwhelming odds.
all resistance has been crushed underfoot by a heavy battalion of human rights lawyers, equipped with a deadly arsenal of legislation manufactured in strasbourg.
some eastern s t ates have attempted to halt the human tide and defend their towns and cities but were forced to stand down following orders from the High Command in Berlin.
after Greece was overrun, the mediterranean coast was next to fall, with Italy running up the white flag immediately. Typically, the French threw their hands in the air and decided, not for the first time, that collaboration was the only option. They simply handed over food, drink and rail warrants, and waved on the invaders towards their ultimate destination.
It’s now early 2016 and, just as in 1940, Britain stands alone. Tens of thousands of young men are massed on the beaches of Northern France, planning their assault when the weather improves.improves They are bivouacked i n tent cities, helpfully provided by the New Vichy government, which is desperate to assist them in their goal of getting to england.
Nightly, they make their preparations, boarding lorries and stowing away in the boots of private cars.
after an expeditionary f orce from the Uk Borders agency digs in outside Calais, the main thrust of the invasion force moves north to Dunkirk.
Just as in the original 1958 film, an intrepid reporter travels to the front-line in an attempt to warn a complacent home front about the mounting threat just a few miles away across the Channel.
she discovers a determined, ruthless army of highly trained North african, middle eastern and afghan volunteers hell-bent on breaching Britain’s borders. They have fought their way across europe to reach Dunkirk. already, many of them have tried to cross the sea in containers. some have made it to ports such as Harwich, where they pretend to be asylum-seekers and are welcomed with open arms.
Whereas the 1958 film featured a Christian service on the beach at Dunkirk, the new movie should stage a celebration of muslim worship in a makeshift mosque, paid for by the eU and recorded by the BBC for an ‘alternative’ songs of Praise.
THe programme will f eature a choir of syrian jihadis singing ‘We’re going to hang out the washing on the Northern Line’ and ‘We’ll be swarming over the White Cliffs of Dover’.
meanwhile, at a BP garage in enfield, North London, an Iraqi kurd people-smuggler — modelled on Richard attenborough’s wartime spiv — plots to ‘liberate’ as many of these ‘refugees’ as possible, by charging them up to £7,000 a head for safe passage to england.
In the most extraordinary scene, a sudanese national called abdul Rahman Haroun walks 31 miles through the Channel Tunnel, eventually arriving in Folkestone, kent, where he is detained.
But instead of being deported immediately, he is granted asylum and freed to live in a council flat, on benefits.
Britain in 2016 couldn’t be further removed from the country which defeated t he Nazi menace. although the majority of the population are determined to defend their nation, the political class are hell-bent on surrender.
The Channel, which served as a natural defence against Hitler, is now an open gateway to Britain.
The Royal Navy, which once ruled the waves, is a withered shadow of its former self, reduced to a handful of soon- to- be- decommissioned fisheries protection vessels and an aircraft carrier without any aircraft.
The small ships which mounted the evacuation of Dunkirk are few and far between. Britain’s fishing fleet has been destroyed to appease our new masters in europe.
Those boats that remain in private hands are soon to be confiscated and burned, in the name of ‘ conserving’ bass stocks, on the orders of Brussels.
People look in vain to their leaders, but there is no Churchill in sight. This time, Britain won’t be fighting on the beaches, or on the landing grounds, or anywhere else for that matter.
The Prime minister flies to munich and returns — like his hero Neville Chamberlain — declaring victory: ‘This morning, I had another meeting with the German Chancellor, and here is the piece of paper . . .’