Dunkirk ( 2017 film ) - wikipedia Dunkirk ( 2017 film ) Dunkirk Theatrical release poster Directed by Christopher Nolan Produced by Emma Thomas Christopher Nolan Written by Christopher Nolan Starring Fionn Whitehead Tom Glynn - Carney Jack Lowden Harry Styles Aneurin Barnard James D'Arcy Barry Keoghan Kenneth Branagh Cillian Murphy Mark Rylance Tom Hardy Music by Hans Zimmer Cinematography Hoyte van Hoytema Edited by Lee Smith Production companies Syncopy Inc. Distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures Release date 13 July 2017 ( 2017 - 07 - 13 ) ( Odeon Leicester Square ) 19 July 2017 ( 2017 - 07 - 19 ) ( France ) 20 July 2017 ( 2017 - 07 - 20 ) ( Netherlands ) 21 July 2017 ( 2017 - 07 - 21 ) ( UK / US ) Running time 106 minutes Country United Kingdom United States France Netherlands Language English Budget $100 million Box office $516.2 million Dunkirk is a 2017 war film written, co-produced, and directed by Christopher Nolan that portrays the Dunkirk evacuation of the Second World War. Its ensemble cast includes Fionn Whitehead, Tom Glynn - Carney, Jack Lowden, Harry Styles, Aneurin Barnard, James D'Arcy, Barry Keoghan, Kenneth Branagh, Cillian Murphy, Mark Rylance, and Tom Hardy. Distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, the film is a co-production between the United Kingdom, the United States, France, and the Netherlands. Nolan wrote the script, which looks at the evacuation from three perspectives -- land, sea, and air -- with deliberately little dialogue, intending to create suspense through visuals and music. Filming began in May 2016 in Dunkirk, France, and ended that September in Los Angeles, where post-production commenced. Cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema shot the film on IMAX 65 mm and 65 mm large format film stock. Dunkirk makes extensive use of practical effects such as employing thousands of extras, and using boats that had participated in the real evacuation, as well as era - appropriate planes. The film premiered on 13 July 2017 at Odeon Leicester Square in London, England, and was released in the United Kingdom and the United States on 21 July in IMAX, 70 mm and 35 mm film formats. It has grossed $516 million worldwide, making it the highest - grossing World War II film of all time. The film has received critical acclaim for its screenplay, direction, and cinematography, with some critics describing it as Nolan 's best to date, as well as one of the greatest war films ever made. Contents 1 Plot 1.1 I. The Mole 1.2 II. The Sea 1.3 III. The Air 2 Cast 3 Production 3.1 Development 3.2 Casting 3.3 Filming 3.4 Post-production 4 Music 5 Release 5.1 Marketing 6 Reception 6.1 Box office 6.2 Critical response 7 Historical accuracy 8 Notes 9 See also 10 References 11 External links Plot Three different perspectives with overlapping time periods -- one week on land, one day at sea, and one hour in the air -- create a non-linear narrative. An introductory text explains that in 1940, after the invasion of France, hundreds of thousands of Allied soldiers had retreated to Dunkirk. As German forces close in, they await evacuation in a seemingly hopeless situation. I. The mole The remains of the East Mole of Dunkirk harbour, in 2009. Tommy, a young British private, is the sole survivor of an ambush by unseen German soldiers in Dunkirk. At the beach he finds troops waiting for evacuation. He meets Gibson, who is burying a comrade. After a German dive - bomber attack, they happen upon a man left for dead, and rush his stretcher onto a hospital ship, but are denied passage themselves. The ship is attacked ; in the chaos, they save another soldier, Alex. At night, they depart on another ship, but this is sunk by torpedo. Gibson saves Tommy and Alex, and they are taken ashore by a lifeboat. Commander Bolton and Colonel Winnant review the situation. The navy is requisitioning civilian vessels that can get closer to the beach. Alex, Tommy, and Gibson join a group of Scottish soldiers heading for a trawler beyond the Allied perimeter. They hide inside until the tide rises. Its owner, a Dutch mariner, returns. Soon after, German troops shoot at the boat for target practice, and when the tide rises, the holes start to let in water. Seeking to reduce weight, Alex accuses Gibson, who has been silent, of being a spy, and demands that he be put off. Gibson reveals he is French, but, hoping to evacuate with the British, he has stolen the identity of the soldier he buried. The tide floats the boat, but it soon starts to sink. The men abandon ship ; Gibson becomes entangled in a chain, and drowns. Alex and Tommy swim for a nearby minesweeper, but it is sunk by a bomber. They are rescued from burning oil, and taken aboard a boat called Moonstone. They cross the English Channel and are placed on a train in Weymouth. As they approach Woking, Alex and Tommy expect public scorn ; instead, they receive a hero 's welcome. Tommy reads Churchill 's address to the nation from a newspaper. At the beach, Commander Bolton watches the last British soldiers leave. He confirms that 300,000 have been evacuated, compared with the most - hopeful initial estimate of 30,000. He stays to oversee the evacuation of the French rearguard. II. The sea In Weymouth, Mr. Dawson and his son Peter set out his boat Moonstone rather than let the navy take it. Their teenage friend George joins them, hoping to do something noteworthy. At sea, they rescue a shell - shocked officer from a wrecked ship. When he realises that Dawson is sailing for Dunkirk, the officer panics and demands they turn back. Intimidated, Peter locks him below. After being let out, the officer tries to wrest control of the boat ; George gets pushed and suffers a severe head injury that causes him to go blind. Dawson continues towards France. They see a Spitfire ditch, and Dawson steers for it. The pilot, Collins, is trapped inside the canopy, which Peter breaks open. Peter reveals that his elder brother was a Hurricane pilot, killed early in the war. They encounter a minesweeper under attack from a bomber. Dodging fire from a fighter, they manoeuvre to take on troops, including Alex and Tommy, from the sinking ship. They get clear just before its oil slick is ignited by the bomber as it crashes to sea. Peter tells the men to be careful around George, but Alex finds him already dead. When the shell - shocked officer asks if George is alright, Peter lies, saying that he will be fine. Back in Weymouth, Dawson is congratulated for saving so many men, and the shell - shocked officer sees George 's body being carried away. Peter gives a photograph of George to the local newspaper, telling them his story ; a front - page article commends George as a hero. Iii. The air One of the Spitfires repainted for the film. Three Spitfires, piloted by Farrier, Collins and led by ' Fortis Leader ', head towards France, knowing that their flying time is limited by their fuel. They encounter German fighters, and Fortis Leader is shot down. Farrier assumes command, and although his fuel gauge is shattered, they press on. They shoot down another plane, but Collins 's Spitfire is badly damaged and he ditches. Farrier continues alone. Farrier sees a bomber attacking a minesweeper near Dawson 's yacht. Switching to reserve fuel, he engages the bomber and a fighter overhead. After driving off the fighter, he shoots down the bomber, which crashes and ignites the oil slick from the sinking minesweeper. Farrier reaches Dunkirk, his fuel exhausted. While gliding over the beach, he shoots down a dive bomber to cheers from the troops below. Farrier manages to crank his landing gear down, and lands beyond the perimeter. He sets fire to his plane, and is taken prisoner. Cast Fionn Whitehead as Tommy, a British Army private Whitehead was cast in the lead after a secretive auditioning process over several months. His character was named after the slang term for the ordinary British soldier. Tom Glynn - Carney as Peter, Mr Dawson 's son Jack Lowden as Collins, a Royal Air Force Spitfire pilot Harry Styles as Alex, a private in the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders Styles won the role after auditioning against hundreds of candidates, when Nolan was unaware of his renown as a singer. Aneurin Barnard as `` Gibson '', a French soldier masquerading as a British Army private James D'Arcy as Colonel Winnant Barry Keoghan as George Mills Kenneth Branagh as Commander Bolton, the pier - master during the evacuation Cillian Murphy as Shivering Soldier Murphy read and spoke to Nolan about the psychological trauma the soldiers endured, to understand his character 's post-traumatic stress disorder. Mark Rylance as Mr Dawson, a mariner and Peter 's father Nolan chose Rylance for his work in the theatre and performance in Wolf Hall. As research, Rylance piloted his character 's boat every day, listened to audio recordings at the Imperial War Museum, and read accounts of men like Mr Dawson. Between takes, he encouraged rehearsal through improvised scenes, which Nolan said `` deepened the characterizations ''. Tom Hardy as Farrier, a Royal Air Force Spitfire pilot Michael Caine is heard in a spoken cameo role as Fortis Leader, as a nod to his role in the 1969 film Battle of Britain. According to D'Arcy and Nolan, Winnant and Bolton act as a Greek chorus to give the audience context. To get acclimatised to cold water, Styles and Whitehead underwent training sessions at Point Dume in Malibu, California. Production Development `` The empathy for the characters has nothing to do with their story. I did not want to go through the dialogue, tell the story of my characters... The problem is not who they are, who they pretend to be or where they come from. The only question I was interested in was : Will they get out of it ? Will they be killed by the next bomb while trying to join the mole ? Or will they be crushed by a boat while crossing ? '' -- Christopher Nolan In the mid-1990s, director Christopher Nolan came upon the idea when he and Emma Thomas sailed across the English Channel to replicate the trip made by many small boats during the Dunkirk evacuation. Nolan originally considered not writing a script, but instead improvising the entire film. He was persuaded to change his mind by Thomas. In 2015, a 76 - page screenplay was written, about half the length of Nolan 's usual scripts and his shortest to date, with a precise mathematical structure. This necessitated fictional characters, rather than ones based on actual eyewitnesses. Nolan decided to make the film from three perspectives -- the land, sea, and air. He structured the story from the point of view of the characters, with the intention that most of it was to be told visually rather than through dialogue and backstory. The entire film was made to encompass the snowball effect that had only been used in the third acts of his previous films. He approached the research as though it were for a documentary film. What made the project attractive to Nolan was its inherent contradiction to the ' Hollywood formula ', as the Battle of Dunkirk was not a victory, did not involve America, and yet demanded a big - scale production to be put on screen. Nolan decided to postpone Dunkirk until he had acquired sufficient experience directing large - scale action films. To convey the perspective of soldiers on the beach, for whom contact with the enemy was `` extremely limited and intermittent '', he made a conscious decision not to show Germans on screen. Also omitted were Winston Churchill and any scenes of generals in a war room, as Nolan did not want to get `` bogged down in the politics of the situation ''. He screened for key members of the crew eleven films that had inspired him : All Quiet on the Western Front, The Wages of Fear, Alien, Speed, Unstoppable, Greed, Sunrise, Ryan 's Daughter, The Battle of Algiers, Chariots of Fire, and Foreign Correspondent -- only two of which are war films. The film 's historical consultant was author Joshua Levine, who also wrote the book adaptation, Dunkirk : The History Behind the Major Motion Picture. Levine accompanied Nolan while interviewing veterans. During these interviews, Nolan was told a story of soldiers seen walking into the sea in desperation, which he incorporated into the screenplay. The production team and scouting locations were chosen before Nolan and Thomas solicited Warner Bros. Pictures to make the film. Nolan and his production designer Nathan Crowley toured the beach of Dunkirk while location scouting, and decided to film there despite the logistical challenges, discarding Suffolk as an alternative. Crowley set up a makeshift art department in Nolan 's garage, and colourised black - and - white photographs to better understand the visual representation. The design aesthetic was made to look as contemporary as possible. Hoyte van Hoytema, who previously collaborated with Nolan on his 2014 film Interstellar, was chosen as the director of photography. Nolan made a deal with Warner Bros. to receive a $20 million salary plus 20 % of the box office gross, the most lucrative percentage since Peter Jackson received the same for King Kong. Pre-production officially began in January 2016. For the uniforms, costume designer Jeffrey Kurland aimed to balance historical accuracy with aesthetics that would favour the film stock. As the original heavy wool fabric had not been produced since 1940, it was made from scratch, tailored for the main cast and over a thousand extras. Uniforms were made in a factory in Pakistan and the boots by a shoemaker in Mexico. The costume department then spent three weeks ageing them at Longcross Studios. Each garment was made to look distinct in regiment and personality : Tommy wears a large greatcoat, while Alex dons the Highlander cut. Kurland found references at the British Museum, RAF Museum and Imperial War Museum, in magazines from the era, photo archives and books. The mole was rebuilt over four months in accordance with the original blueprints. Sand was brought back from Dunkirk so that the make up department could create products that conformed to the environment. Oil and tar were specially made, and prosthetics were water and fire resistant. Casting After first - hand accounts of the Dunkirk evacuation revealed to Nolan how young and inexperienced the soldiers were, he decided to cast young and unknown actors for the beach setting. Nolan was also adamant that all of the cast be British. John Papsidera and Toby Whale were the casting directors for Dunkirk. Tom Hardy, Kenneth Branagh and Mark Rylance were in talks to join the ensemble as supporting characters in late 2015. Fionn Whitehead was cast as the lead in March 2016, while Jack Lowden, Aneurin Barnard and Harry Styles were added to the list shortly after. Cillian Murphy joined the following month. James D'Arcy, Barry Keoghan and Tom Glynn - Carney were included in the line - up later that May. Filming Moonstone during filming with Nolan, Rylance, Glynn - Carney and Keoghan on board. Maillé - Brézé at the port of Dunkirk during filming. MLV Castor was modified to resemble HMS Basilisk ( H11 ). Principal photography commenced on 23 May 2016 in Dunkirk, planned so as to avoid the final days of winter and Bastille Day, and to coincide with the dates of the real evacuation. Production continued for four weeks in Urk, Netherlands, one week in Swanage and Weymouth in Dorset, United Kingdom, and for two weeks at the Point Vicente Interpretive Center and Lighthouse in Rancho Palos Verdes, California. Filming in Dunkirk took place at the location of the real evacuation, while the street scenes were shot in nearby Malo - les - Bains because most of the buildings in Dunkirk were destroyed in the war. Shooting times on the beach and mole were determined by tidal patterns. French labour strikes and working time regulations also affected the production schedule. To minimise the need for computer - generated imagery ( CGI ), cardboard cut - out props of soldiers and military vehicles created the illusion of a large army. Real or scale model fighter aircraft, and real warships and private boats, provided realism that could not be achieved from CGI. Scale models were created via 3D printing. The mole set was frequently rebuilt after being damaged by bad weather. Because French authorities had prohibited pyrotechnic charges, to protect marine life, air cannons were used instead. Six thousand extras were needed for the filming in France. Early scenes of the film were shot at Weymouth harbour, and the final scenes at Swanage railway station. Universal Pictures ' Falls Lake studio in Los Angeles was used for interior and exterior sets of a sinking ship and plane, with the ship interiors filmed in a water tank using stuntmen. Crowley and marine coordinator Neil Andrea located nearly sixty ships, which Nolan had reconditioned for the shoot. These included the retired French Navy destroyer Maillé - Brézé, which was made to look like a 1940 British warship as there were no wartime British destroyers left with working engines. Three retired Royal Netherlands Navy ships were also used : the minesweeper Hr. Ms. Naaldwijk portrayed HMS Britomart ( J22 ), Hr. Ms. Sittard portrayed HMS Havant ( H32 ) and HMS Jaguar ( F34 ), and MLV Castor portrayed HMS Basilisk ( H11 ). An MTB 102 and the 1930s Norwegian steamer Rogaland were also used. Over fifty other boats included twenty actual Little Ships of Dunkirk, piloted by their owners. A small 1930s motor yacht called Moonstone served for six weeks of filming ; its most demanding scenes, with up to sixty people on a boat designed for fewer than ten, were shot on the Dutch lake IJsselmeer to avoid the challenge of the Dunkirk tides. Aircraft were equipped with dual cockpits for filming in flight. A Yakovlev Yak - 52TW was modified to resemble a Supermarine Spitfire, and two Supermarine Spitfire Mark IAs, a Spitfire Mark VB, and a Hispano Buchon painted to resemble a Messerschmitt Bf 109 E, were also used for the combat scenes. Large - scale radio controlled model aircraft, including Heinkel He 111 and Junkers Ju 87 bombers, were filmed crashing into the English Channel. The real Spitfires were provided by the Imperial War Museum Duxford, and owner Dan Friedkin piloted the one that was shot landing on the beach in Dunkirk. These takes had to be done within forty - five minutes, before the tide came back in. IMAX cameras were attached to the fighter planes using specially - made snorkel and periscope lenses -- in the back and the front -- and large - scale mockups were submerged with cable rigs for a crash scene. A Piper Aerostar enabled filming from the air, also with IMAX cameras front and rear. Dogfights over the Channel were shot by an aerial unit based at Lee - on - Solent Airfield. Hardy and Lowden spent the final stages of the shooting schedule on a cliffside in Palos Verdes, inside purpose - built cockpit gimbals, with limited contact with the rest of the cast and crew. Principal photography ended on 2 September 2016, after sixty - eight days. The film was shot on a combination of IMAX 65 mm and 65 mm large format film stock in Panavision System 65, with more IMAX footage than in any of Nolan 's previous films -- an estimated seventy - five percent. The sparsity of dialogue made it possible for IMAX cameras, which are notable for making noise, to be used as the primary format. Panavision and IMAX lenses enabled filming at night. For the first time in a feature film, IMAX cameras were used hand - held, which Steven Spielberg and Ron Howard advised as the best way to shoot on vessels. Post-production Nolan 's regular collaborator Lee Smith returned to edit Dunkirk, beginning in September 2016 after Smith had assembled shots unsupervised while filming was still in progress. Editing took place in Los Angeles with an audio mixing team of eight people. Nolan said : `` You stop seeing the wood for the trees '', and singled out the editing of the aerial sequences as a particular challenge, likening this to a chess game. Limited computer - generated imagery was applied to improve some scenes, but none consisted entirely of CGI. Weather continuity presented less of a challenge than expected, with filming both in Europe and California. Multiple versions and mixes were cut to further refine the dramatic impact. Double Negative undertook the visual effects work while FotoKem, which assisted as the production 's film laboratory, also handled the release prints. Sound designer Richard King sent two sound mixers to audio record the Spitfires at the Imperial War Museum Duxford using twenty - four microphones. Unable to find an actual dive siren of a Stuka dive bomber, King created his own to try and replicate the sound. For scenes in which ships gave out sounds of people in distress, voices were captured using an ADR `` loop group ''. C - 4 and liquid propane were blown up to record sound for the explosions. Also featured were the whistles attributed to German bombs during the Second World War. Music Dunkirk : Original Motion Picture Soundtrack Soundtrack album by Hans Zimmer Released 21 July 2017 Genre Film score Length 59 : 46 Label WaterTower Music Hans Zimmer chronology The Boss Baby ( 2017 ) Dunkirk : Original Motion Picture Soundtrack ( 2017 ) Blade Runner 2049 ( 2017 ) By January 2016, composer Hans Zimmer had already begun working on the score. For the purpose of intensity, the script was written to accommodate the auditory illusion of a Shepard tone, which had previously been explored in Nolan 's 2006 film The Prestige. This was coupled with the sound of a ticking clock, that of Nolan 's own pocket watch, which he recorded and sent to Zimmer to be synthesised. Additional music was provided by Lorne Balfe, Andrew Kawczynski, Steve Mazzaro, and Benjamin Wallfisch. `` Nimrod '' from Edward Elgar 's Enigma Variations is part of the theme, which was slowed down to six beats per minute with added bass notes to avoid it sounding sentimental. Instrumentation included a double bass and fourteen cellos played in high register. King relayed to Zimmer the sound of a boat engine, which served as a reference for the tempo. Zimmer visited the Dunkirk set for inspiration and chose not to view raw footage of the film whilst composing the score. The music was recorded at AIR Lyndhurst Hall in London with Geoff Foster as mix engineer. Dunkirk : Original Motion Picture Soundtrack No. Title Writer ( s ) Length 1. `` The Mole '' Hans Zimmer 05 : 36 2. `` We Need Our Army Back '' Zimmer 06 : 28 3. `` Shivering Soldier '' Zimmer 02 : 52 4. `` Supermarine '' Zimmer 08 : 03 5. `` The Tide '' Zimmer 03 : 49 6. `` Regimental Brothers '' Zimmer Lorne Balfe 05 : 04 7. `` Impulse '' Zimmer 02 : 37 8. `` Home '' Zimmer Benjamin Wallfisch 06 : 02 9. `` The Oil '' Zimmer 06 : 11 10. `` Variation 15 ( Dunkirk ) '' Wallfisch Sir Edward Elgar 05 : 52 11. `` End Titles '' Wallfisch Elgar Balfe Zimmer 07 : 13 Total length : 59 : 46 Release The world premiere was held on 13 July 2017 at Odeon Leicester Square in London. The film was theatrically released on 21 July, projected on IMAX, 70 mm and 35 mm film. It is the fourth Nolan film to be released in the third week of July, a period in which Warner Bros. Pictures has previously achieved success. It was Nolan 's preference that the film opened in July instead of the northern - hemisphere autumn awards season. The film was initially screened in 125 theatres in 70 mm, which proved to be the widest release in that format in twenty - five years. Dunkirk received a special IMAX screening at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival, marking the second Nolan film to appear at the festival since Following. Marketing The announcement teaser debuted in cinemas ahead of Suicide Squad and was released online on 4 August 2016. According to data analytics firm ListenFirst Media, it generated the most Twitter engagement of any trailer released that week. The first full - length trailer was released on 14 December 2016, alongside a five - minute cinema - exclusive prologue shown before selected IMAX screenings of Rogue One : A Star Wars Story. Dunkirk was the most discussed film that week according to media measurement firm comScore, and the trailer has over 32 million views on YouTube. The prologue returned for a week before selected IMAX showings of Kong : Skull Island. Footage from the film was well received at CinemaCon 2017. Warner Bros. aired a TV spot to coincide with the 2017 US national basketball playoffs. The official trailer was released on 5 May 2017, after a countdown on the film 's website and four fifteen - second teasers leading up to it. Dunkirk was again the most discussed film that week according to ComScore. The video game developer Wargaming included in its titles World of Tanks, World of Warships and World of Warplanes missions and rewards related to the film. On 6 July, Warner Bros. released another trailer, which for the third time was the most discussed film of the week. The prologue was shown at selected Wonder Woman IMAX screenings in July. It also toured nine cities in three European countries with a mobile cinema. Sue Kroll, president of Warner Bros. Worldwide Marketing and Distribution, said that it was important that Dunkirk be marketed as a summer event movie as opposed to a period war film, to highlight its `` magnificent scale and originality ''. This strategy was maintained throughout the campaign. To convince audiences that the film was best experienced in theatres, the prologue was never made available online. TV spots were distributed sporadically during sports games and notable television series to establish the film 's themes. Social media infographics described the scale and importance of the Dunkirk evacuation. Additionally, a Google 360 Experience interactive adventure, an Amazon Alexa programme, and a 360 - degree short film, were created. In partnership with fast food restaurant Carl 's Jr., the film was branded on four million cups, as well as pop - ups at nearly 3,000 locations. Reception Box Office As of 26 September 2017, Dunkirk has grossed $186.4 million in the United States and Canada and $329.8 million in other countries for a worldwide total of $516.2 million, against a production budget of $100 million. It is the highest - grossing World War II film of all time, surpassing Saving Private Ryan 's $481.8 million worldwide. In the United States and Canada, industry tracking for the film 's opening weekend ranged from Variety 's $30 -- 40 million to Deadline.com 's $35 million, while BoxOffice speculated an opening weekend of $55 million and a total $220 million domestic gross, and IndieWire speculated an opening weekend of $50 million and $500 million worldwide. Dunkirk made $19.8 million on its first day, including $5.5 million from preview screenings. It went on to finish first at the box office with $50.1 million, marking the third - largest opening for a World War II film ( behind Captain America : The First Avenger 's $62.1 million and Pearl Harbor 's $59.1 million ), as well as the fourth largest opening of Nolan 's career. In its second weekend, the film grossed $26.6 million ( a drop of 44.3 % ), beating newcomer The Emoji Movie to the top spot. The film grossed $17.1 million in its third weekend, falling to second place at the box office behind newcomer The Dark Tower ( $19.2 million ), and again finishing second in its fourth week, this time behind Annabelle : Creation with $10.9 million. The film opened in France on 19 July 2017, and made $2.2 million on its first day. It was released in seven markets the following day, earning an additional $6.3 million. On 21 July, the film was released in forty - six more countries and grossed $12.7 million from over ten thousand theatres, with $3.7 million from the United Kingdom. It ended up with an international debut of $55.4 million, including $4.9 million in France, $12.4 million in the U.K. and $10.3 million in Korea. The film remained number one at the box office in the United Kingdom for five weeks before newcomer American Made dethroned it the weekend of 25 August. It opened in China on 1 September in the number one spot, grossing $30 million from its weekend debut. The opening weekend in Japan saw it earn $2.9 million from 444 screens. Critical response Dunkirk received universal critical acclaim, with praise for its screenplay, direction, cinematography, musical score and acting. Some critics called it Nolan 's best film to date and one of the greatest war films ever made. On the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, it holds an approval rating of 93 % based on 340 reviews, with an average of 8.7 / 10. The site 's critical consensus reads : `` Dunkirk serves up emotionally satisfying spectacle, delivered by a writer - director in full command of his craft and brought to life by a gifted ensemble cast that honors the fact - based story. '' On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 94 out of 100 based on 52 critics, indicating `` universal acclaim ''. According to AlloCiné, the film has an average note of 4.1 / 5, based on 22 critics. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave an average grade of `` A − '' on an A+ to F scale. Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian awarded the film five out of five and called it Nolan 's best to date, saying : `` Nolan surrounds his audience with chaos and horror from the outset, and amazing images and dazzlingly accomplished set pieces on a huge 70mm screen, particularly the pontoon crammed with soldiers extending into the churning sea, exposed to enemy aircraft ''. Todd McCarthy of The Hollywood Reporter also lauded the film, calling it `` an impressionist masterpiece '' and writing : `` Although the film is deeply moving at unexpected moments, it 's not due to any manufactured sentimentality or false heroics. Bursts of emotion here explode like depth charges, at times and for reasons that will no doubt vary from viewer to viewer. There 's never a sense of Nolan -- unlike, say Spielberg -- manipulating the drama in order to play the viewer 's heartstrings. Nor is there anything resembling a John Williams score to stir the emotional pot ''. Peter Debruge of Variety praised the detailed plot ( although calling Zimmer 's musical score `` bombastic '' ), writing : `` Nolan has found a way to harness that technique in service of a kind of heightened reality, one that feels more immersive and immediate than whatever concerns we check at the door when entering the cinema. '' Manohla Dargis of The New York Times described the film as a `` tour de force of cinematic craft and technique '' while she lauded Nolan 's elastic approach to narrative as `` beautiful ''. Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle also praised the film, calling it a `` triumph '' and `` masterpiece '', while commending Nolan 's unique style and approach to directing a war film, as well praising the performances. The Economist labelled Dunkirk as `` a remarkable film '' and a new classic. Richard Roeper of the Chicago Sun - Times hailed it as one of the best war movies of the decade and as `` tight, gripping, deeply involving and unforgettable '' and a `` triumph in filmmaking ''. Chris Nashawaty of Entertainment Weekly scored the film an `` A '', calling it the best of 2017 : `` By the end of Dunkirk, what stands out the most is n't its inspirational message or everyday heroism. It 's the small indelible, unshakeable images that accumulate like the details in the corner of a mural ''. Robbie Collin of The Daily Telegraph gave the film five stars out of five, lauding it as `` a work of heart - hammering intensity and grandeur that demands to be seen on the best and biggest screen within reach ''. Peter Travers of Rolling Stone awarded it his first four - star rating of 2017 as `` maybe the greatest war film ever '' and a work of significant artistic merit : `` There 's little doubt that ( Nolan ) has, without sentimentality or sanctimony, raised that genre to the level of art. Dunkirk is a landmark with the resonant force of an enduring screen classic ''. He also called it the first major Oscar contender of the year. Matt Zoller Seitz of RogerEbert.com gave it 3.5 / 4 despite not liking the film, stating that he `` loathed parts of it and found other parts repetitious or half - baked. But, maybe paradoxically, I admired it throughout, and have been thinking about it constantly since I saw it... This is a movie of vision and integrity made on an epic scale... It deserves to be seen and argued about ''. Michael Medved gave the move 4 / 4 stars and called Hardy 's performance `` outstanding '', and the action moves `` seamless '', declaring `` this is not only the best WWII movie since Saving Private Ryan, it is very simply one of the greatest war movies ever made. '' Jacques Mandelbaum of Le Monde praised its realism, but regretted that the film ignores the part played by French troops. Kevin Maher in The Times gave it two out five, saying `` ( Dunkirk ) is 106 clamorous minutes of big - screen bombast that 's so concerned with its own spectacle and scale that it neglects to deliver the most crucial element -- drama. '' Maher also stated that in comparison to other war films such as The Longest Day, A Bridge Too Far and Saving Private Ryan, Dunkirk felt like a Call of Duty video game. David Cox of The Guardian criticised the historical inaccuracies, the paucity of female characters, its small scale, and over-dramatisation, thinly characterised cast and lack of suspense. Historical accuracy Hispano Buchon masquerading as a Bf 109E, wearing a temporary paint scheme for the film. The film received praise for its generally realistic representation of the historical evacuation. It accurately depicts a few Royal Air Force planes dogfighting the Luftwaffe over the sea, limited to one hour of operation by their fuel capacity. Destroyers and fighter planes were held back from battle, as the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force would have been the sole defenders of Britain in case of an invasion attempt. Also praised were accurate depictions of how a small boat attempted to evade aerial attack, and how soldiers returning to England saw a civilian population largely unaware of or unaffected by the war. Leaflets demanding that the British surrender were dropped from the air, but not of the design used in the film. The film was praised for its realism by surviving Dunkirk veterans, although Branagh said that those with whom he saw it thought it `` was louder than the battle ''. However, although some events are loosely based on true history, the characters and storyline are fiction. Branagh 's role is a composite character based in part on the actions of James Campbell Clouston. When the beach scenes were shot, the weather was worse than during the real evacuation ; Nolan explained that this helped to understand the danger faced by the pleasure boats. In one scene, an officer gives a salute without wearing his military beret, which a veteran pointed out as inaccurate protocol. The German planes had their noses painted yellow in the film to better distinguish them ; in reality, this was not done until a month after Dunkirk. The involvement of French, African, and Indian soldiers was either limited or left out of the film. Modern shots were used for the aerial photographs, whereas in reality the town was substantially in ruins by the time of the evacuation. British officers did initially refuse to evacuate French soldiers, with conflict arising from both sides, although Churchill later insisted that the French be evacuated alongside the British. Notes Jump up ^ Additional production by Warner Bros. Pictures, RatPac - Dune Entertainment, Canal+, Ciné +, and Studiocanal. Jump up ^ Barry Keoghan and Cillian Murphy, however, are Irish. Jump up ^ Dunkirk was approved under the French international tax rebate scheme. Jump up ^ The film received $1.2 million through the Netherlands ' rebate incentive programme. 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External links Official website Dunkirk on Twitter Dunkirk on IMDb Dunkirk at Metacritic Dunkirk at Box Office Mojo Dunkirk at Rotten Tomatoes Films directed by Christopher Nolan Feature films Following ( 1998 ) Memento ( 2000 ) Insomnia ( 2002 ) Batman Begins ( 2005 ) The Prestige ( 2006 ) The Dark Knight ( 2008 ) Inception ( 2010 ) The Dark Knight Rises ( 2012 ) Interstellar ( 2014 ) Dunkirk ( 2017 ) Short films Doodlebug ( 1997 ) Quay ( 2015 ) Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Dunkirk_(2017_film)&oldid=802605741 '' Categories : 2017 films English - language films 2010s action thriller films 2010s drama films 2010s historical films 2010s war films American epic films American films American historical films American war drama films British epic films British films British historical films British war drama films Dunkirk evacuation films Dutch drama films Dutch films Dutch historical films Dutch war films Films about air forces Films directed by Christopher Nolan Films produced by Christopher Nolan Film scores by Hans Zimmer Films set in France Films set in 1940 Films shot in France Films shot in the Netherlands Films shot in the United Kingdom Films shot in the United States French drama films French epic films French films French historical films French war films IMAX films Nonlinear narrative films Royal Navy in World War II films Screenplays by Christopher Nolan Warner Bros. films World War II films based on actual events Hidden categories : CS1 Dutch - language sources ( nl ) CS1 French - language sources ( fr ) Use British English from August 2017 Use dmy dates from August 2017 Articles with hAudio microformats Album infoboxes lacking a cover Track listings with deprecated parameters Track listings with input errors Articles containing potentially dated statements from September 2017 All articles containing potentially dated statements Twitter username same as Wikidata Talk Contents About Wikipedia Български Català Čeština Deutsch Español Euskara فارسی Français 한국어 Հայերեն Bahasa Indonesia Italiano עברית Basa Jawa Latviešu Magyar മലയാളം Bahasa Melayu Nederlands 日本 語 Norsk Polski Português Русский Simple English Српски / srpski Srpskohrvatski / српскохрватски Suomi Svenska ไทย Türkçe Українська Tiếng Việt 粵語 中文 Edit links This page was last edited on 27 September 2017, at 07 : 33. 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Question: who was the pilot in dunkirk based on
Answer: Jack Lowden