10 Huge Historical Inaccuracies In Chris Nolan's Dunkirk

Dunkirk suffers from a problem directly opposite to the one pointed out in most blockbusters: it just doesn't have enough explosions.

The Luftwaffe dropped oodles of bombs on the beach at Dunkirk, and the German army hurled thousands of artillery rounds into the town itself. A huge column of smoke rose over the town, higher and denser than evoked in the movie, so thick it was a hindrance to the German bombers attacking the beach. The bombs that hit the beaches also created far huger explosions than see on-screen.

Dunkirk is altogether a more sober, less chaotic event when seen through Nolan's lens. The beach and sea appear less crowded, the air less rent by constant bombing, strafing and artillery fire, the town of Dunkirk itself significantly less battered, than in reality.

It's a choice by director Nolan to make the movie more restrained than Hollywood's typical thud-and-blunder WWII epic, but it's also one that takes it a lot further from reality.