DUNKIRK review

DUNKIRK

starring Fionn Whitehead, Tom Hardy and Mark Rylance

directed by Christopher Nolan

A review by Helen J. Reynolds


I wasn’t too intrigued by yet another WW2 movie, but knowing Christopher Nolan (Inception, Batman Begins) was at the helm, got me in the seat and I wasn't the only one. It was a weekday but the screen was near full - the appeal couldn't just be it's famous director. Sitting on the other side to me was a man certainly in his 80s, having an evening out with his grown-up grandson. Suddenly the relevance of a war movie made absolute sense.

That being said, to do another WW2 epic, there has to be something different in the telling. Cue Nolan. He did it for Batman, creating a fresh new franchise, and let’s not forget when he changed film narrative altogether, crafting a whole movie literally backwards. The man knows storytelling.

For the battle at Dunkirk, he chose to make the closed off beach that much bigger in scale and we follow multiple storylines in a very close, dramatic way. Three men in a boat that turns to four as they rescue a shell-shocked soldier, a band of RAF soldiers dropping like flies, a military and navy captain arguing the hours of the tide, and an ordinary foot soldier who teams up with a suspicious ally to flee certain death.  

The opening is beautiful and unexpected – leaflets falling endlessly from the sky with the chilling words ‘We Surround You’. From that slow peaceful moment, the movie switches to action and like Tommy (Fionn Whitehead) it doesn’t look back.

           

What works well in Dunkirk, are the match-cuts showing one set of characters in peril, to another in similar straits. It all builds to Hans Zimmers ticking-clock soundtrack to have you on the edge of your seats. The beautiful lapping of the tide or the pouring of water into a sinking boat give the film a distinctive rhythm that suits perfectly to its location and truly brings the war-torn beach to life.

However, not all of the editing works as there are some scenes that are necessarily out of sync with other parts of the action. In war, this is to be expected, but is no less jarring for an audience.

It’s a modern film to show the many facets of battle - this isn’t a show of heroism (though Tom Hardy goes for it in the end) or one of cowardice, but rather one that shows soldiers not as men in uniform, but people in an unimaginable situation doing unimaginable things. Outnumbered in a place where death is more normal than anything else, just hearing the drone of a plane overhead is enough to put you in that terror.

The snapshot sense of action perhaps invests you more in the retreat rather than on any one particular character (a shame since it wastes some famous faces). It also results in broad strokes being made and a cheesy end piece. Overall, Dunkirk is very beautiful to watch and the beginning, as well as much of the action, pulls you in - even if the payoff doesn’t have the lasting impression of Nolan’s other great works. 

A combination of:
The Dark Knight Rises (2012)
Hacksaw Ridge (2016) 
Their Finest (2016)