Dunkirk

photo courtesy of screenrant.com

SPOILER-FREE REVIEW

     When Warner Brothers tapped Christopher Nolan to direct Batman Begins in 2005, it was a bold move. Nowadays, it’s all the rage to let auteur directors helm big-budget tentpole features (see the current Star Wars and Marvel movies), but Nolan was something of an experiment. Since then, he’s proved himself time and time again, becoming one of the most popular directors in the world with a series of immersive and often mind-bending films, including The Dark Knight, Memento, The Prestige, Inception, and Interstellar.

     But his latest film, Dunkirk, is something of a departure. It’s a film that has its basis in history—as opposed to his other films, which deal with the supernatural, the fantastic, the superheroic. Fortunately, Nolan seems to have made the jump into realism effortlessly, because Dunkirk is an exceptionally gripping, masterful WWII thriller.

photo courtesy of ibtimes.co.in

     Dunkirk divides the real-life story of the evacuation of Allied forces from the beach at Dunkirk into three sections: land, sea, and air. On land, we follow Tommy (Fionn Whitehead), a soldier trying desperately to escape the beach together with Gibson (Aneurin Barnard) and Alex (Harry Styles). In the English Channel, Mr. Dawson (Academy-award winner Mark Rylance) takes his civilian vessel to Dunkirk as part of a last-ditch effort to save the remaining soldiers. In the air, RAF pilot Farrier (Tom Hardy) clashes with enemy fighters in a frantic mission to protect the army from above.

     Dunkirk is business-like, getting started quickly and never letting go until the screen goes black. It makes the audience feel as exposed and vulnerable as the soldiers, and it’s that inescapable vulnerability that drives the movie’s tension. The script is smart, as is typical with Nolan creations, but what stands out here is that it is also remarkably lean, keeping the action tense and taut. Nolan takes things down to bare bones, forming a compelling story with only the most minimal tools. There is, for instance, not much dialogue; Dunkirk uses mostly images to tell its tale. It’s a credit to Nolan’s craftsmanship that he can get the point across regardless.

photo courtesy of thetimes.co.uk

     The “less is more” approach also applies to characterization. Here the action is divided between several sets of characters, so we necessarily spend less time with each of them. This works out to the film’s benefit; instead of the “backstory dump” that so frequently populates tentpole films these days, Dunkirk opts to familiarize its characters simply be letting you spend time with them (often, as mentioned above, in silence). If there’s any criticism to be leveled at the film, it’s that by sheer necessity a few of the characters draw the short end of the stick in terms of character depth.

     Visually, Dunkirk is a vivid dream. It carries the same brooding, atmospheric aesthetic that Nolan usually brings to the table, but here cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema sets the action against the colors of the water and sky—alternatively beautiful and threatening. The dogfight sequences exemplify this trait, juxtaposing the violence and tension of the conflict with a splendorous natural world.

photo courtesy of cinemavine.com

     Many of the typical Nolan strengths are on display here. His minimalist approach to CGI bears fruit, with stunning special effects and stunt-work—the dogfights, again, are the best example of Dunkirk’s incredible in-camera effects. And although Nolan ditches the supernatural and otherworldly this time around, he delivers the experimental, non-conventional (or at least non-linear) storytelling approach that we’ve come to expect. For a filmmaker who has gained so much attention for his work, Nolan continues to evolve and experiment—a development that’s especially heartening after his last effort, Interstellar, seemed a bit too preoccupied with outdoing its predecessors.

    In terms of theme, Dunkirk deals with the brutality of war and the drive to survive. Though the film tones down the violence (it’s PG-13), it conveys the sheer, unbridled cruelty of the conflict, using firstly volume—every gunshot, every plane is stunningly loud—and secondly Hanz Zimmer’s relentless score. (The exception to the volume rule is the characters themselves, who often speak in maddeningly indiscernible low tones. Yet again, Tom Hardy is put in a mask, and yet again he’s incredibly difficult to understand.)

photo courtesy of cinemavine.com

     Amid their grim surroundings, the characters must decide if they will allow their baser self-preservation instincts to rule them or if they will work together so that they, as a people, might push forward into another day. Ultimately, it’s a story about survival, survival in the noblest sense, survival at all costs and against all odds. In the age of antiheroes and compromised morality, Dunkirk offers a refreshing outlook.

     FINAL VERDICT: Masterful and captivating, Dunkirk is another strong entry into Nolan’s body of work and one of the most entertaining films of the year.

photo courtesy of indiewire