What's your greatest misunderstanding of a movie that changed its meaning?

Mild spoilers for Dunkirk ahead, but it's like first 5 minutes.

I got to the theater a little late and started watching when Tommy and Gibson were burying that soldier on the beach and Gibson was putting on the soldier's boots. Without context about who Tommy was, I thought Gibson killed an Allied soldier and took his clothes and Tommy was helping him, meaning they were both German soldiers impersonating English soldiers trying to infiltrate the English army. That assumption was totally reinforced when Gibson couldn't speak a word of English and Tommy was covering for him the whole movie.

I thought it was an interesting angle Nolan was conveying, getting us to be invested in a German spy trying to survive the evacuation of Dunkirk. Not only were Tommy and Gibson trying to survive German attacks, they were trying not to get caught as impersonators. It was very suspenseful.

It wasn't until years later I found it they were both Allied soldiers. Totally changed my perspective of the story. Try watching it from my original perspective. I think it is absolutely internally consistent!

Submitted December 26, 2023 at 01:21AM by FlyingSpoon8891 https://ift.tt/kBc8GVu