I agree with you, I watched dunkirk recently and although the cinematography is superb I was left feeling completely unmoved by it. The sense of scale of the whole massive operation is completely missing.
I sail on the east coast and often see dunkirk little ships still going strong, the film does not do justice to what they help achieve.
This review puts how I felt much better.
https://www.theguardian.com/film/fil...k-left-me-cold