“Dunkirk” begins, as great films often will, with a scene of wonder and awe that lets us know
virtually from the first frame, that the filmmaker has his teeth into something big
We see a half dozen soldiers from behind, walking down the middle of the road in a picturesque French village
The colors are saturated to beautiful effect, and papers are billowing down from the sky
And then a soldier picks one up and we see that it’s leaflet that has been dropped from an enemy airplane
telling the Allies that they’re surrounded, that it’s hopeless, and that they should surrender.
