Nerdiest Oscar Post Ever: The Dunkirk-Darkest Machete Order

It’s Oscar Week! I am super excited. We managed to stream both Lady Bird[image error] and Get Out[image error] over the weekend. Both are wonderful in their own ways, with brilliant acting and directing. But I have to say that Get Out will be giving me chills for weeks. The alternate ending is worth watching, too, if you can.

These two films put us at having seen 6 out of 9 of the Best Picture noms, which is a pretty good streak for us. It’s always a challenge to squeeze in enough adult time between the nominations and the awards to see all the films, but we do what we can.

You’ve probably noticed, as I have, that this year’s films seem to cluster around themes. Racism and justice, holding leadership accountable, the impact of the media, coming of age… And two of this year’s best picture films (Dunkirk and Darkest Hour) center on the same critical moment in World War II in Britain, taking different perspectives on Britain’s response to the fall of France and Belgium to the Nazis in May 1940.

This is me in the underground bunker at the Churchill War Rooms, now a museum. The guards were super friendly, and great listeners. (July 2016)

Since I studied this era in British history a good bit recently, I was nerdy excited to see both films come out, and was thrilled that they are both (to me) excellent and revelatory in completely different ways.

**Edit to Add: Someone asked me about spoilers, and I will say that depending on your knowledge of WWII history, this might contain some information you don’t know if you haven’t seen the films. Since both movies are (I think) about telling the unexpected or little known side of well-known time in history, I don’t think what I say here will in any way ruin your experience with either film.**

Darkest Hour focuses on the political machinations in 1940 Westminister in general, the character of Winston Churchill (and others, including Clementine Churchill, Elizabeth Layton, Neville Chamberlain, Lord Halifax and King George VI) in particular. It shows in excruciating detail how close England came to capitulation to Hitler when things looked bleakest. How different history would be…

[By the way, if you’re interested in America’s role during this pre-Pearl Harbor era, I highly recommend Lynne Olson’s fascinating book, Citizens of London: The Americans Who Stood with Britain in Its Darkest, Finest Hour[image error]. I don’t consider myself a history expert, or buff even, but the close character studies in that book cast that critical period in a whole new light for me.]

Dunkirk is a gritty, chaotic look at the seminal battle during that same time, which became the rallying point around which the British people gathered their courage to fight another day. It’s an excellent film as well, and what I loved about it from an artistic standpoint was that there was no true main character or protagonist (though there were plenty of heroes and heroic acts). Also, the sound editing is incredible in that movie — not something I usually notice — and I will be rooting for them in that category.

It occurred to me that — for my fellow nerds especially — these two films would go great together. So, with an apologetic nod to Rod Hilton and the Star Wars franchise, I’ve borrowed his term and created my own, smaller-scale machete order, so you can have your own Oscar-nominated, British-resistance night in.

Step #1 – Get the movies

Here are the streaming links*:

Darkest Hour [image error]

Dunkirk [image error]

Or, to purchase the DVDs*:

Darkest Hour [image error]

Dunkirk (Blu-ray + DVD + Digital)

*FTC disclosure: The links to the films and book in this post are affiliate links, which means if you click them and stream the movies from there, or go on to buy anything else while you’re on Amazon, I get a teeny-tiny percentage back from Amazon for sending you there (you don’t pay more than if you search for them yourselves). I really appreciate your support! Most other links are to recipes, information, etc., and are not affiliate links. There, I’m just being nice.