Dunkirk on Arte: the 1940 evacuation according to Christopher Nolan

Soldiers wait to be evacuated from the beaches, a civilian boat crosses the English Channel, and pilots try to cover the retreat. In Dunkirk, scheduled to air on Arte, Christopher Nolan weaves these three perspectives together to tell the story of Operation Dynamo, launched in the spring of 1940 to evacuate Allied troops surrounded in northern France.

Fionn Whitehead plays a young soldier looking for a place aboard a ship. Mark Rylance puts to sea aboard a civilian boat, while Tom Hardy plays a Royal Air Force pilot. The three stories unfold at different paces and converge during the evacuation.

Released in France on July 19, 2017, the film was shot in part at the site of the evacuation, in Dunkirk. In 2018, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences honored its editing, sound editing and sound mixing.

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