Dunkirk

Dunkirk (2017)

34 mistakes

(20 votes)

Factual error: Velux windows were invented in German occupied Denmark in 1941. When burying a soldier on the beach, you can see them installed into French houses in 1940.

Matthew Haynes

Factual error: One of the dams in or around Dunkirk has a foundation made of tetrapods. These concrete structures were developed in the 50s, according to wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetrapod_ (structure)).

Factual error: Oriented strand board (OSB), also known as sterling board, sterling OSB, aspenite, and smartply in British English, was not invented until 1963. The French warehouse floor was covered with it. See blood spot close up.

Other mistake: In a scene where the commanding marine officer stands on the mole in a close-up shot, black smoke is rising from sky out of nowhere. Looks like the FX guys forgot to delete the particle effect after deciding to not show a boat with its exhausts in the background.

Factual error: When Commander Boulton is looking out to sea at the civilian navy he has the binoculars backwards.

Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

Suggested correction: No, he doesn't. The objective lenses are smaller than on modern binoculars but he definitely has the binoculars the right way round. You can tell he has the binoculars the right way round because the objective lenses are on the outside of the two barrels. The eyepiece is on the inside of the barrels.

To add to the above correction, you can see WW2 binoculars at https://globalwarmuseum.com/produkt/binoculars-british-army-1943-mk-iii-x6-taylor-hobson-perfect-optics/. Commander Boulton can be seen holding them correctly at https://fyeahkennethbranagh.tumblr.com/post/168344257844/dunkirk-2017-dir-christopher-nolan.

Peter Harrison

Factual error: Colonel Winnant wears a regimental cap badge. In fact, full colonels (as he is) and brigadiers have a different cap badge (a lion standing on a crown). It's not entirely beyond the realms of possibility that he would choose to continue to wear his old cap badge, but it would be very unusual (and completely against regulations).

Necrothesp

Factual error: The Heinkel He 111 defensive rear gun sounds are ridiculously low and slow (pom pom pom). In reality fire rate of the 7.92mm and 13mm guns was much faster.

Factual error: The Dunkirk beach lights are completely wrong - modern. In original photos they are black and of their time.

Dunkirk mistake picture

Continuity mistake: As the lone Spitfire trails and attacks the German bomber, he hits the right engine, which starts smoking but the trail quickly fades. He then hits the left, which smokes a lot. We then see the same attack from below, and from this angle the both engines are smoking equally badly.

Continuity mistake: When the two British soldiers are exchanging a bottle of wine, it's full in one shot but when given to the other soldier it's suddenly less so.

Continuity mistake: During the spitfire scenes over the channel, it's day light, however, when one of the ships was bombed and the soldiers jump over board, it's pitch black. Several cuts between these scenes each time show daylight in one and night in the other.

Other mistake: When Tommy walks down the stairs on the boat to be bombed, one of the soldiers in the top middle of the left side of the screen can be seen pretending to eat a sandwich by repeatedly snapping his teeth near the edge of the crust. (00:31:15)

Visible crew/equipment: Towards the end of the movie when Farrier is watching his airplane burning on the beach, a camera crane can be seen from a distance getting in the frame on the right side of the screen. (01:38:40)

Lance-Corporal: The tide's turning now.
Colonel Winnant: How can you tell?
Lance-Corporal: The bodies are coming back.

More quotes from Dunkirk

Trivia: In reality, Adolf Hitler ordered his commanders and troops to stand down and allow Allied forces to escape at Dunkirk. The German General von Blumentritt is quoted as saying "He (Hitler) then astonished us by speaking with admiration of the British Empire, of the necessity for its existence, and of the civilisation that Britain had brought into the world...He said that all he wanted from Britain was that she should acknowledge Germany's position on the Continent." But the exact reason for the order remains unknown.

Charles Austin Miller

Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

Suggested correction: Hitler's controversial 'halt' order at Dunkirk had nothing to do with chivalry. The most widely accepted reason for the order is that the Wehrmacht Panzer units had been fighting continuously for two weeks, and badly needed some rest in preparation for Fall rot, phase two of the invasion of France. Infantry and air power continued to attack the Dunkirk pocket throughout the evacuation while the armoured units rested.

More trivia for Dunkirk

Question: A few minutes into the movie you see English troops all lined-up on the beach with no obvious means of evacuation. That leaves them very exposed to German gunfire and aerial attack. It would seem that the English soldiers would stay off the beach until actually called-up for evacuation. Not to mention the obvious requirement that some troops would have to stay off the beach to defend the evacuation area. How realistic are those scenes?

Answer: That's exactly how it was. If you search for images of the evacuation, the troops were stood in lines, waiting to be evacuated. The Germans were held at bay, and the air raids were periodic, so there was little risk on the beaches.

More questions & answers from Dunkirk

Join the mailing list

Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.