For me, the long awaited movie by director Christopher Nolan was certainly no disappointment. I had high expectations from one of my favourite directors who made such an incredible list of movies which are loved by so many; Memento (2000), Insomnia (2002), The Dark Knight trilogy (2005-2012), Inception (1010) and Interstellar (2014).
The first time I heard that he would make a World War Two movie I was immediately hyped and hooked. More so when I found out that it would be about the battle of Dunkirk. As far as I know, it has not been done before. However, it gave me some concern about how he would pull such a movie off. For those who don’t know about Dunkirk, it was more an evacuation operation than a battle. Here’s a little background information about Dunkirk.
When Germany invaded in the West in May 1940, the Allied forces expected that the Germans would march through central Belgium. Therefore, they moved their forces to the Franco-Belgium border in order to sweep in when the Germans came. However, they did not expect the Germans coming through the Ardennes which the Allied generals stated unpassable for the tanks. The Germans, however, pulled it off and they managed to flank and outmanoeuvre the Allied troops. The Allied army broke and went in full retreat with a lot of casualties and taken captives. The British army retreated to the French town of Dunkirk where they were cut off and surrounded by the German forces, waiting for the British ships to get them out and bring them back home.
It’s here where the movie begins. Like I said, it’s not a movie about the battle for France or about the fighting in the surroundings of Dunkirk but it is rather a movie about surviving. I would not even call this a war movie but call this a thriller and a drama. There is nothing wrong with it though. It does justice to the genre. The movie begins with a few British soldiers who are trying to reach the beach for evacuation but are all but one slaughtered by the always unseen Germans. The surviving soldier Tommy (Fionn Whitehead) reaches the beach and finds another soldier called Gibson (Aneurin Barnard) who does not speak and the two form a partnership to escape the beach and survive. There is a constant feeling of upcoming doom in the movie which is enhanced by the clock ticking soundtrack composed by Hans Zimmer.
When a German aeroplane attacked the beach for the first time it really frightened me. Christopher Nolan brilliantly uses the soundtrack and loud noises to create an ever present anxiety. I am not joking when I say that I was literally stressed the whole movie with my eyes fixated on the screen and my chest pounding. I have a feeling that the director had intended this. You get the same feeling of horror as if you are one of the soldiers stuck on the beach.
The movie is divided into three arches; the mole, the sea and the air. The ‘mole’ consist of all the scenes that happens on land: how the soldiers are waiting and trying to survive boarding ships and swimming for their lives (like Tommy and the soldier that doesn’t speak).
The arch ‘the sea’ consists of Mr Dawson (Mark Rylance) who owns a pleasure boat and takes up the royal call to go with his little boat to Dunkirk and try to pick up as many survivors as he can. His son Peter (Tom Glynn-Carney) and another boy called George (Barry Keoghan) accompany him. It touched me how many British civilians took their little ships and boats and just sailed out the canal to war and do their best to help as many soldiers as they could.
The arch ‘the air’ consist of the Royal Air Force pilots who are trying their best to defend the boats and the beach against incoming German bombers and fighters. The pilots we see are Farrier (Tom Hardy) and Collins (Jack Lowden) who after losing their leader in a dogfight continue to Dunkirk. They are outnumbered because Britain wants to save the majority of their fighters for the upcoming battle of Britain. It’s because of this they have a hard battle to fight but they truly give everything they have.
What I like about the movie is that the three arches are nonlinear. They all take place at a different time and sometimes you go forward and back in the movie. There are multiple instances of the same scene but seen from a different perspective. For example, you see the pilot Farrier shooting down a German fighter, later in the movie you see the scene from Mr Dawnson perspective how an unknown British fighter shoots down a German fighter. It’s this feeling of a maze while watching the movie that reminds me of what Christopher Nolan does best: making a good thriller. The music and sound effects are just superb and the movie really creates the feeling of wanting to survive. Even though you don’t know the background of the characters, they are portrayed in a way that you feel with them and care about their fates. If you can handle the stress then I would recommend this movie for you and I do hope you give it a chance after reading this article.
Here is a teaser to give you an idea what you are getting into:
Im excited for the movie!!
I am sure you will like it đŸ™‚