"Where’s the bloody air force?"
An unnamed soldier, stranded on the beaches of Dunkirk, utters this line after surviving bombings by the German air force. Many British soldiers feel abandoned by their own country, as the Prime Minister was cautious about sending too much help for fear of losing resources for the fight at home. Fearing for his life, the soldier expresses the frustration that many are feeling, demanding to know why they are not getting more help.
Peter: Some men across the channel at Dunkirk need taking off.
George: Some men…
As Peter prepares to go with his father, Mr. Dawson, to Dunkirk to help evacuate the beach, he tells George, his curious friend, that they are going to rescue "some men." When George sees all the life jackets piled up, he is skeptical that it's just "some men," and his repetition of this phrase suggests that he knows there will be a large number of men who need rescuing.
"You can practically see it from here…Home."
Dunkirk is a city in Northern France, near the Channel between England and France, approximately an hour away from the English coast by boat. Part of what makes the failure to evacuate Dunkirk so frustrating is the fact that Britain is so close, yet the army does not have a way to get home. Bolton is concerned about this fact, that home is so close and yet so far.
"Why waste precious tanks when they can pick us off from the air like a fish in a barrel?"
Bolton says this to Winnant on the mole to express to him that the Germans have stopped using tanks since they cornered British troops on the beaches of Dunkirk. The quote is foreboding in that it suggests that the British soldiers are trapped and things are bleak.
"There’s no hiding from this, son. We have a job to do."
After Dawson tells the shell-shocked soldier that they are headed back to Dunkirk, the soldier protests, insisting that he does not want to go back into the line of fire. In response, Dawson says this, insisting that they have to do what's right and go back towards the beaches that the soldier just left.
"I’ll be useful, sir."
George, Peter's awkward friend, wants to come along with Peter and Dawson to help out in their rescue mission. He says this line to assure them that he will be helpful on the trip.
"Civilians? We need destroyers."
When they first learn that civilian boats have been dispatched to pick up the soldiers, Bolton and Winnant are skeptical, not believing that civilian boats will be enough to rescue the soldiers trapped on the shore. They worry that, with no more destroyers being dispatched, they are doomed.
Blind Man: Well done, lads. Well done.
Alex: All we did is survive.
Blind Man: That's enough.
When they return to England, Alex sees a blind man on the docks, who congratulates him on returning safely. Alex feels ashamed that they are being congratulated for merely surviving rather than doing something more heroic. He suspects that the man is not sincere, but the blind man tells him that surviving is enough.
"Men my age dictate this war. Why should we be allowed to send our children to fight it?"
When the shell-shocked soldier questions Dawson's judgment about going to Dunkirk to help the war efforts, pointing in particular to Dawson's age, Dawson protests by suggesting that men his age are the ones who start wars, so why shouldn't he be able to help. This line is the closest the film comes to a critique of war, as Dawson points out that men who do not have to sacrifice their lives make decisions on behalf of those that do, calling attention to the unfairness of this arrangement.
"How hard is it to find a dead Englishman on Dunkirk beach? He didn't kill anyone!"
When Alex becomes suspicious of Gibson on the grounded trolley, Tommy comes to his French friend's aid, insisting that Gibson did not kill anyone and is not a traitor, but someone to be trusted.
