Weekly Chat (Non-Osprey), 17 September 2017

Diane: Thank YOU

OH and I went off to see Dunkirk this evening; haven't been to the movies for eons.  I can say the special effects were very good and almost too realistic in some parts. Can't say the same for much else though.  As everyone knows (other than the people who made the film apparently), France is just across the channel from England, but as the scenes switch from the English side to the French side, it went from night to day multiple times without any hint of time having passed. Then, the English Channel was alternately a gorgeous blue or murky gray and the, skies also went from blue to gray within seconds. All a bit jarring.  At the start of the movie, the Kenneth Branagh character remarks that there are 400,000 men on the  beach, but then halfway through the film, the beach was almost deserted, then when the Little Ships arrived, all of a sudden the piers were jammed again.  And yes, I know they couldn't afford/coordinate 700 Little Ships for the movie, or even 200 or 100, but surely they could've have managed to round up more than 8 or 10.  As my OH said, it provided no  historical context.  There were three of four Spitfires, but since all the pilots wore headgear and masks and were talking into their radios, you couldn't tell one from the other. One plane ran out of fuel and seemed to glide endlessly over the beach at Dunkirk before finally landing.  One last whine (I promise!): Three of the central characters were played by young actors who, with the the same  build and hair and given all the grime and dark lighting, made it impossible to figure out which was which, especially as their characters were so poorly developed.  Anyway, like I said, the  special effects were good.  All a bit simplistic though. The voyage of the Little Ships and the rescue of those men was drama enough without the meagre subplots the movie included.   Rant over!

Have a good Sunday all.

Hello and thank you DIANE -

ANNETTE, thank you for your critique of Dunkirk, the movie. It was on my watch list but now I'm not so sure. War history is something that I am interested in ( I grew up in Plymouth, listening to the adults talking about the war as if it was still in progress) and have watched many documentaries using contemporary film recordings, so I can well understand the problems that you and your OH had with this film

I was collected by eldest daughter at 10am today, taken up to their home and my nails were done :-) then shopping with them, back here and Lucy made a marvellous smoked salmon pate for lunch. After they left, I made a beef and red wine casserole which will be refrigerated until tomorrow - second day it is always better, or so I think!

Regards to ALL

Giving up after second lost attempt today - I think I must be hitting  button I can't see!  Tired anyway, so maybe I'll do better tomorrow!

OH!  This one reappeared!  What is going on?!!

Second attempt - don't know where this morning's effort flew off to!  Happening more often - I think I must be touching a key that I can't see.

DIANE -thanks for starting us off.  I hope the project is going well now that it is off the ground again.  I love the Spoonbill!

ANNETTE - that sounds a really awful film! I find Dunkirk a difficult topic anyway!  Several TV programmes lately promised "the truth" about the whole mess.  At quite a young age, I couldn't understand why it was supposed to be such a wonderful story - part of "Britain's Glory" looked more like Britain's disgrace - "The day Britain ran away", in my eyes.

HEATHER - Nails, shopping and a salmon pate - looks a good way to spend a morning.

HEAThER - I do agree with second day casserole phenomenon - especially curries and spicy dishes!

Heather: Sounds like a lovely day. You are being spoiled and rightly so!

OG: I don't know who makes theses movies - 20-somethings?  The movie didn't show the retreat as any kind of a victory. I think they were trying to focus on individual heroism.  Anyway, saw part of a movie on television tonight called Allied, set during WWII, and one scene is of a party in London - all the lights blazing and the doors open (no black out curtains).  An air raid starts (no sirens) and everyone is outside watching. My father was an Air Raid Warden n those days and used to go around the neighborhood looking for houses where lights were showing....I mean, it's not as if there isn't a very recent historical record for these things.   Bad enough that I shout at the news every evening....  

Have a good Monday everyone.

Ii was great yesterday as our bus wended its way around a small portion of Yorke Peninsula. Most places I had never seen. Saga & photos not before next week!

Looking forward to seeing them, AQ!

It is quite a pleasant day here. Am shortly going to do some hoeing, wish that the flipping weeds would stop appearing--

WENDY - You lost your OH? Glad that he turned up :-)

ANNETTE - I was watching something the other night - can't remember what - and the same thing as you describe. No blackout etc etc.

OG - Dunkirk, the retreat but the number of personnel brought home to fight another day. Except those who were 'sacrificed' and left behind. I'm thinking particularly of the 51st Highland Division. They fought so hard but so many of them died or were captured at St Valery en Caux. 10.000 men - the notoriously long walk into captivity.

I hope you were OK for your bloods, OG. I think that Monday is your new sleepy day but maybe you have reorganised that for this week?