Dunkirk Movie Review

Released: 21st July 2017 (UK and US)

Length: 106 Minutes

Certificate: 12A

Director: Christopher Nolan

Starring: Fionn Whitehead, Cillian Murphy, Kenneth Branagh, Harry Styles, Mark Rylance, Jack Lowden, Aneurin Barnard, James D'Arcy and Tom Hardy

Shifting from one genre to another, Christopher Nolan has consistently made his mark on the film landscape, delivering a best-in-class direction with every release. The auteur has now turned to the war genre with Dunkirk, a fantastic production that makes extensive use of threes to deliver an unrelentingly tense and visually striking take on a widely adapted period.

Dunkirk tells the real-life story of the northern French town as it took centre stage in a mass-evacuation in World War II. Surrounded by the rapidly approaching forces of the Nazi Blitzkrieg, the evacuation of British troops, alongside French, Dutch, Polish and Canadian combatants was a bitter struggle. The allied forces were forced to dig in and wait for rescue while being buffeted by aerial bombardment and underwater attacks by German U-Boats. Dunkirk places the viewer in the heart of this military disaster and never lets up. Keeping the action entirely centred on Dunkirk, the UK town of Dover and the sea in-between, it tells the story from three separate timelines; the land (Taking place over a week) in which a collection of soldiers young and old duck and cover, the sea where civilian boats were requisitioned for the rescue efforts (Over one day) and the air (In one hour) as RAF pilots in Spitfires did what they could to hold off enemy vehicles despite turning up late to the conflict. Characters end up in separate locations and some are subjected to horrible injuries; Nolan is no stranger to using non-linear narratives and here the sense of three very different perspective shines the brightest; for the soldiers on the land, the agonising wait for rescue felt like an eternity and by contrast the civilians on the boats knew they only had so many hours in the day to get across the channel for the rescue efforts. Simultaneously the RAF pilots only had about an hour in the air before they ran out of fuel so this timeline is the most fast-moving of the bunch. The audience is exposed to all three of these perspectives, solidifying Dunkirk as a film that covers all aspects of the extraordinary event. Flow is a core component of the plot; despite juggling three separate timelines, you’re always very aware of where the narrative sits, even as it swings back and forth, gradually filling in the gaps as it moves towards a breath-taking climax. On the other hand, the action is also based solely in the realm of escape rather than direct combat. You never really see the German soldiers, but the film makes their devastating power and presence felt in a variety of ways. The mixture of paces affording by the multiple timelines creates an incredibly unique form of narrative, setting Dunkirk apart from every one of its contemporaries.

The characterisation of Dunkirk is very broad; you shouldn’t come in expecting soldiers reminiscing about what is waiting for them back home as Dunkirk focuses on no one character. Across a spectrum of individuals in each timeline, the film builds its portrayal of war not on personal stories of a small group but on the shared experiences and emotions of every individual involved in the evacuation. This delivers a superbly balanced viewpoint with emotions of hopelessness, fear mistrust and desperation leading to hope and salvation. Whether it’s the horror of a sinking vessel of the tension of an aerial dogfight; these feelings transfer themselves onto the audience. Cillian Murphy personifies a shell-shocked trooper, one rendered so horrified by the battle that he may end up turning against his fellow men. Kenneth Branagh makes for a very convincing general, worried at how great the losses will be. Fionn Whitehead stands in as the main private of the film and the hardships his fellow young men go through ground the film in the period of conscription that existed at the time. Mark Rylance as a civilian sailor who ventures out to rescue the soldiers conveys the most grounded and wise perspective of the bunch. Some may roll their eyes at the casting of Harry Styles but I was pleasantly surprised to find that he does a decent job. His character, another young private, becomes wary of his comrades at one point and he really captures that unease that filled the minds of every soldier waiting for rescue. Finally, Tom Hardy makes his third appearance in the director’s films and just like Bane and Mad Max, he proves his skill at acting with only his eyes once again. As the RAF pilot Farrier, his pupils are focused and fast-moving, getting you into his character’s mindset. Each actor in Dunkirk sells their individual perspectives incredibly well, which complements the narrative shifts that swap back and forth throughout its runtime.

Every part of the filmmaking in Dunkirk works to pull the audience in further while also stressing the harsh nature of the evacuation. As the film shifts from one timeline to the next, the camerawork also moves to accommodate it; the land features slower far shots to give off the scale and distance of the beaches while the air combat is close, intimate and tight, reflecting the enclosed nature of the Spitfire cockpit. The music, composed once again by Hans Zimmer, is a constant ticking that rises with the tension, phenomenally emphasising the feeling of danger present throughout the town. sound design conveys immense power and weight, especially when it comes to the rounds fired off overhead. There is no CGI here; every single part of the naval shoot (which is one of the biggest in film history) made use of real ships and models, not to mention over 6000 extras that populate them. The destruction brought about by the German forces and the hellish scenarios the soldiers endure all feel real, generated a fundamental impact that ranks up there with the best of the genre. Enough can’t be said about how much the wider 70mm format and other enhancements provided by IMAX add to the film. It amplifies the film’s technical presentation to a level rarely seen in modern war films. Because of the audio and visuals working in such seamless tandem, Dunkirk accomplishes all its suspense and tension without the use of graphic violence, which is often a fixture in setting the grim and brutal nature of war.

Compared with other war films, Dunkirk is far more wide-reaching and expansive, moving away from the closer analysis of the human condition that permeates the genre. When you put all three pieces of the puzzle together, they form one of the most intense, authentic and unconventional war films ever produced; one which envelopes the audience fully in one of the biggest military operations in history. Nothing less from the work of a cinematic master.

Rating: 5/5 Stars (Exceptional)