Dunkirk (2017) was directed by Christopher Nolan and released in 2017. The movie is a depiction of the Dunkirk evacuation that took place in 1940. The protagonist is a British soldier who survives an ambush of German troops. He makes it to the beach and joins the Allied troops that are waiting for the evacuation. Tommy makes several attempts to leave the place, meeting different people. He manages to survive while some of his new friends die during the operation.
The filmmakers consulted a historian and tried to make the film true to life. The film depicts the events with a high degree of historical accuracy, and all the major points are revealed properly. Clearly, a large part of the movie is fictional in order to make it a successful Hollywood product. However, some historical inaccuracies are rather significant. For example, the color scheme used by German Luftwaffe fighters was not adopted until several months after the Dunkirk evacuation. Another striking inaccuracy is the lack of diversity among the soldiers who were waiting for the rescue.
Only some French soldiers are depicted, while Belgians and Canadians are never shown. Moreover, non-white soldiers are not presented at all, although there were some Bangladeshi and Pakistani men. The air power is also under-presented. Although real survivors of the evacuation did argue that there were not enough British fighters, several squadrons were sent to support the operation. Surprisingly, there are far too few explosions in the movie, while the event was much more chaotic and devastating. In the movie, ships drown too quickly. In reality, there was always time for people to evacuate, with quite rare exceptions. The filmmakers exaggerated the role little ships played during the operation. They helped save many lives, but their input was not decisive.