In the beginning of Dunkirk, we read
The mole, 1 week
The sea, 1 day
The air, 1 hour
What are the times here? Do they represent how long each timeline is in the movie until its end?
Yes, that’s pretty much how it is:
- Spitfires only have an hour of fuel
- it takes somewhat longer to sail across the channel and back again
- it takes a lot longer to evacuate half a million troops from a beach...
There's a certain amount of skill in terms of the script to bring these timelines together on-screen without it being too jarring to the viewer.
