Dunkirk

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Black screen.

Water slaps hollow metal, metal knocks creaking wood...

Super title:

DUNKIRK:

FADE IN:

Paper. Falling like snow. Six young, filthy Tommy's raise

their heads along a deserted street, checking rubbish bins,

windows... One crouches to check a coiled garden hose. He

tries the tap -nothing...

Title 1:

THE ENEMY HAVE DRIVEN

THE BRITISH AND FRENCH ARMIES TO THE SEA

One Tommy plucks paper from the air... Propaganda leaflets

showing their position... “YOU ARE SURROUNDED”....

Title 2:

TRAPPED AT DUNKIRK,

THEY AWAIT THEIR FATE

He wads the leaflets up, crouches, drops his trousers... The

Tommy with the hose carefully lifts each side...

Title 3:

HOPING FOR DELIVERANCE

He gets a tiny dribble of water which he licks from the

nozzle

Title 4:

FOR A MIRACLE:

BLAM BLAM BLAM! Tommy jolts, grabs his trousers. All six race

away from us, towards a fence twenty yards away. One by one,

five are shot down. The survivor climbs the fence. Gunfire

bursts through the fence, ten feet away

Tommy tries to reload his rifle -fingers struggling with the

magazine, training forgotten. Gunfire splinters the fence,

five feet away

Tommy thrusts his index finger into the breech of his rifle

again and again, scraping skin. A round jumps into the

chamber

2.

Gunfire three feet away Tommy

tries once, twice -slides the bolt forward Gunfire

right next to him Tommy

spins around, fires blind until empty, scrambles out

the back. He races down narrow Dunkirk streets. Breathing.

Kit jangling... Building after building... He rounds a corner

-

BLAM! Bullets hit dirt and bricks near him. The street ahead

is barricaded, manned by French troops.

TOMMY:

ANGLAIS! AINGLAIS!

The French stop firing and wave him through.

He scrambles over their sandbag barricade, taking in their

dirty frightened faces as he passes...

A French Soldier grabs him...

FRENCH SOLDIER:

Allez, Anglais.

Tommy’s mouth opens at the man’s bitterness.

FRENCH SOLDIER (CONT’D)

(contempt)

Bon voyage.

He shoves Tommy down the street behind their protection.

Gunfire behind. Tommy takes off again, hurtling down the dark

street, heading towards the blazing light of

EXT. BEACH AT MALO LES BAINS -CONTINUOUS

The longest, widest beach he’s ever seen, sunlight dazzling

off the water, endless dark fences snaking across the sand

and out into the water. Tommy squints -not fences, lines of

men, hundreds of thousands of men...

Tommy looks around, clutching his stomach. He clambers over a

dune, feverishly undoing his belt, dropping trousers and

squatting before he realizes

He’s not alone

Another soldier, British army shirt undone, sweating with the

labour of burying a body. This is Gibson.

3.

The other man notices Tommy, but barely pauses. Tommy

finishes, pulls ups his trousers and moves towards him. Tommy

helps stoop to tie over the body.

Tommy notices the corpe’s stockinged feet, then watches

Gibson stoop to tie his boots...

Gibson looks up at him. Tommy shrugs, gestures for Gibson’s

water can. Gibson hands it over and Tommy takes a swig,

carefully catching drops in his hand, then licking them off

his palm.

Tommy leaves Gibson buttoning his shirt and heads back onto

the beach.

There are destroyers out on the water, too far to reach.

Tommy wanders down to join one of the long, snaking lines

which extends into the sea, soldiers up to their chests in

water, waiting patiently for ships which do not move.

The man at the back turns to Tommy, unwelcoming. Points at

his own insignia.

MAN:

Grenadiers, mate.

Tommy moves off. Looks around at other impossibly long lines,

at the unattainable ships. Futile.

A line of stretcher-bearers comes past, carrying wounded men

along the beach towards the harbour...

Looking where they’re headed, Tommy sees a long, narrow

breakwater extending out into the sea, packed with soldiers.

A hospital ship at the end of it.

This breakwater extends a kilometer into the sea. It is

called the Mole.

Super title:

1. THE MOLE

one week

Tommy becomes aware of the sound of distant aircraft.

Soldiers peer up into the sky...

MALE VOICE (O.S.)

DIVE BOMBERS!

4.

Tommy spots the distinctive kinked wings of the notorious

Stuka dive bomber, its nightmarish howl rising as it picks up

speed, diving at the beach...

The lines of men instantly vanish -soldiers scattering back

to the dunes, burrowing into the sand... The first bombs lift

sand into the air.

The stretcher-bearers put down their loads, lying across

them, protecting them as the area is hammered...

The first Stuka pulls out of its dive, revealing two more

Stukas diving. There are nine more about to follow...

Tommy sees a soldier lying on his back, rifle aimed at the

sky, firing defiantly, desperately at the attacking plane...

The ground around him lifts into the air with the second wave

of bombs.

Tommy buries his face in the sand as the bombs blast and

blast and blast

The explosions stop. Tommy lifts his head. BOOM! Another wave

of bombs explodes in series up the beach. Then, finally,

quiet. Tommy rises...

The stretcher-bearers, back on their feet, lift their burdens

(four bearers per stretcher, one at each corner).

Several stretchers are left behind on the sand.

Soldiers on the beach watch in despair as one of the

destroyers is slipping below the water, smoke billowing.

MALE VOICE (CONT’D)

WHERE’S THE BLOODY AIR FORCE?!

CUT TO:

EXT. ENGLISH COAST, WEYMOUTH HARBOUR -MORNING

A lanky youth runs down to the masts of the crowded harbour.

He races along the wooden dock, jumping over the ropes as he

rushes to a large yacht, the Moonstone.

Super title:

2. THE SEA

one week

5.

The youth, George (seventeen), leaps from the dock into the

well. Two naval officers emerge from the cabin, pushing past.

George watches them go, confused...

Mr. Dawson (fifties, civilian dress) hands George a stack of

china plates and ducks back inside.

A second young man, Peter (nineteen), emerges, carrying

boxes.

PETER:

Navy’s requisitioned her -there’s

some men across the Channel, at

Dunkirk, need taking off.

(points at dock)

They told us to strip her and load

those life jackets.

George looks along at the dock. At a pile of hundreds of life

jackets. George looks at Peter. Surprised.

GEORGE:

Some men?

PETER:

Navy’ll be back in an hour. My dad

wants to be ready before then...

CUT TO:

EXT. SKY -DAY

Moving through billowy peaks, three sleek, beautiful

Spitfires streak into frame. Elegant. In confident formation.

Super title:

3. THE AIR

one hour

INT. COCKPIT, SPITFIRE 1 -CONTINUOUS

The pilot, Farrier, has a light touch on the controls. He

checks his left and right, scanning the skies.

VOICE ON RADIO:

Check fuel, Fortis 1 and 2.

Farrier reaches forward to his fuel gauge, pushes the button

beside it -the needle shoots up to three-quarters full.

6.

FARRIER:

Seventy gallons.

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