Dunkirk: An authentic, horrific war flick
Christopher Nolan is known for his extravagant, larger than life science fiction movies that are mind-bending but this time it is different. Nolan has stepped into the genre of real-life war and to say it in a simpler fashion, he has made it authentic. Everything in the movie including humongous sets including hundreds of extras dressed as soldiers, gunshots, air strikes, set locations and the core cast ensures that while watching the viewer is directly teleported to World War 2.
From the very first frame to the last frame the plot revolves around the events of World War II taking place at Dunkirk, which is a place located in the North of France. Plot starts with an air-strike and from then there is not a single dull moment during the whole movie. If you were to make a list of phobias like fear of heights, fire, darkness, abandonment, this movie would tick alot of boxes, you name it and it is represented by the cinematography by Hoyte van Hoytema’s nightmarish and clear images. The disaster of the war is portrayed in accurate dark color tones and the evacuation here portrayed in light color tones showing a glimpse of hope at the end of the tunnel.
The timeline is set in late May and early June of 1940’s when the British soldiers were trapped in the harbour and beaches of Dunkirk and the plot is about evacuation and the struggles it brings. A sequence in the movie when George played by Barry Keoghan asks Mr. Dawson “Is he a coward, Mr Dawson?” Mr. Dawson replies “He’s shell-shocked, he is not himself and he might never be himself” sums up the horror war brings in an individual’s life. All of this combined with the background score by Hans Zimmer that is intense and is enough to give goosebumps to the viewer makes it an exciting watch.
The plot is not a straight line because this is a Christopher Nolan movie and thereby is divided into pieces that lead up to the final scene. The star-cast includes of Tom Hardy, Cillian Murphy, Harry Styles, Fionn Whitehead, Barry Keoghan and many more in smaller yet impactful roles. Tom Hardy is a part of the Royal Air Force and the guy doesn’t seem to get rid of the mask like his other movies, Barry Keoghan plays a farrier who is a part of the rescue team in the ocean with Mark Rylance who plays Mr. Dawson. Harry Styles, Cillian Murphy with others play a pack of soldiers that are rescued. The movie ends with the soldiers returning home after being rescued and saga of Dunkirk that is known as the never-ending saga continues.
There are certain events where the political references are given, for instance in one scene it is quoted “Churchil must have gotten his 30,000 men now” and his words are also quoted in the end scene as “The rescue must not blind us to the fact that what has happened in France and Belgium is a colossal military disaster”. Other than that there is a sequence where a French soldier is told to sacrifice his life as he was in a British ship but in the end he ends up saving lives of the same British soldiers. There were particular scenes that play for minutes without an audible dialogues but paint the war frames in a unique way. Nolan also stated that for those scenes he had taken inspiration from silent movies and the way the movements are captured during those sequences speak for it. Talking about a weak point, the movie is a straight-up war display and because of its crunch run-time of an hour and forty-six minutes it leaves very little time for character back-stories. The connect between characters and the audience is missed at certain points.
In my opinion, this movie serves as the perfect pedigree of how wars can be portrayed and served to the audiences without showing blood and disturbing scenes in a PG-13 way. Wars are unsentimental, bombastic and they tend to leave permanent scars to the people that are involved in any direct or indirect manner and these traits are shown in the best way possible with a pinch of emotions, fast screenplay and a beautiful yet scary background score. The shots are held long enough to let you absorb everything in the frame and decide where to let your eyes settle.
