Dunkirk

War! Huh! What it is good for? Absolutely nothin’! Well, not quite true. Despite being a platform for patriotism and ‘national pride’, making statements to other countries, inciting sometimes violent protests, and always having a substantial body count, which often proves to be a shameful waste of resources as well as basic human life, one thing we can argue it’s good for is the war film. Admittedly, I’m not a huge fan of war movies in general, but even I have to admire the differences in technique, aesthetic and genre structure that makes a WWI movie different from a Vietnam movie. 

Last night I went and saw Christopher Nolan’s entry into the war-movie foray: Dunkirk and I have to say that for someone who wasn’t very interested in seeing this movie at first, I was quickly hooked (even after missing the first 10 minutes!). 

The film depicts the evacuation of Allied forces from the seaside city of Dunkirk from three different perspectives: land, air, and sea. On the beach, the troops anxiously await ships to take them home with many doing whatever they can to find a way out sooner rather than later. In the air, three spitfire pilots have the job of taking out enemy fighters as they pick off the stranded troops and rescue vessels. On the sea, neighbouring cities are called to donate civilian ships to sail and rescue as many of the stranded troops as they can carry. 

In true Nolan fashion, the story is non-linear with the land story covering the space of a week, the sea a day, and the air one hour. Written with minimal dialogue to increase the suspense, the film is a breath-catching tension-fest for a number of reasons. 

First: the music. The score by Hans Zimmer is haunting and discordant, made up of long-held notes and crescendos that rival the explosions and screaming. Where there is no ‘music’ there is merely the sound of ticking, which really hammers home the idea that time is against the characters and ramps the suspense dial to 11. 

Off the back of that, the sound mixing and design is something masterful. Much of the film’s horror and drama is created through the marriage of image and sound and whilst there are no real shots of gore and visual horror, fear is depicted as well as aroused in you through the sounds of screaming, drowning, and of course, explosions and gunfire. 

Visually, the film is quite stunning;, the range of shots vary from wide to close-up and the attention to detail and composition of every scene is beautiful. A stunning amount of authenticity is created through the achievements in costume design and the use of practical effects as well as the employment of thousands of extras, assembling boats that had been used in the real Dunkirk evacuation, and using era-appropriate planes for the aerial shots (which are absolutely incredible). 

The cast may be large and there may not be call for any lengthy bouts of dialogue to remember, but that doesn’t mean that everyone in this movie didn’t deliver. Amidst the immaculate shot composition, beautiful and slightly uncharacteristic use of lighting, which also brings something of the horror into the mix (all this death and awful things happening on a beautiful coastal beach), and stunning achievements in sound are handfuls of wonderful performances. 

Critics are calling it one of the best war movies ever made and it’s been tagged very quickly as Nolan’s best movie to date. There really is no question why! 

Starring: Fionn Whitehead, Damien Bonnard, Aneurin Barnard, Lee Armstrong, James Bloor, Barry Keoghan, Mark Ryalnce, Tom Glynn-Carey, Tom Hardy, Jack Lowden, Luke Thompson, Billy Bowle, Mikey Collins, Jaems D’Arcy, Cillian Murphy, Harry Styles, and Kenneth Branagh 

Year: 2017 

Rating: M