A Taxing, Excruciating and Utterly Beautiful Piece of Cinema

Rating: 10/10 (12 September 2017)

Like many others, I'm an unflinching fan of everything by Nolan & co. My expectations were raised and, as a Brit, I was eager to see how the story (one with which we've all grown up) would be presented. I can understand the numerous criticisms levelled against "Dunkirk" in other reviews but I find that none of them truly take anything away from this brilliant film. I will, however, attempt to address them in my review and justify the 10/10 rating "Dunkirk" has garnered.
The dialogue is minimal and at times, can be a weak spot for the Nolan brothers. Branagh and Rylance get the lion's share of speech; providing quiet, mature performances and moments of calm which often act as a foil to the far more action-packed endeavours of their younger counter-parts. What little dialogue there is, it is masterfully delivered by KB and MR. Given the nature of the film, I believe this element fits perfectly with "Dunkirk" and its far more physical nature.
"Dunkirk" is, ultimately, an audio-visual feast. Visceral, loud and unwavering in its intensity, it is a war film where actions, or lack thereof, speak volumes. But none of these actions would have such an impact were it not for the incredible work of Hans Zimmer. The soundtrack to "Dunkirk" does not follow the usual rise and fall, the battering of percussion and strings so often equated with Zimmer's music. Instead, after the first few cracks of gunfire break the silence of the film's intro, we are met by a metronomic ticking which pervades throughout the film. Married with a masterfully employed "Shepard tone" motif, this ticking and audio illusion make the tensions rise and rise with the pitch to the point of bursting. As the pressure and perils of events on screen finally reach their crescendo, so too does the soundtrack until finally, mercifully... silence. For a small moment on screen, all diegetic noise subsides while the screeching soundtrack mutates into a swell of music and emotion. As Elgar's "Nimrod" blossoms into full form, we are given back the Hans Zimmer we know and love. All of this ties perfectly into the events on-screen, mirroring the quiet of the Spitfire as it glides along the beach, all of which swirl into a climax of relief and emotion which brings a tear to the eye. It may not be to everyone's liking, but the "Dunkirk" OST is an invaluable feature of the film and aids so much of the feeling behind Nolan's work.
The music would be of little consequence, however, were it not for the truly incredible cinematography, editing and sound-mixing. Having seen the film in full IMAX, the sheer spectacle of "Dunkirk" is hard to express. When watching the Academy Awards, one quickly becomes bored of the endless prizes for various areas of film-making that, in truth, most people care little about in the mainstream. Only watching "Dunkirk", shaking with the force of screeching Stukas wreaking havoc on the beach, have I ever thought "Who on earth did the sound editing for this? They MUST win an award". (Richard King was supervising sound editor, out of interest). "Dunkirk" is a film that makes you incredibly aware of how it could have been made, from the way scenes are shot to the manner props and authentic vehicles are utilised. Boasting a fine budget of $100 million, Nolan's commitment to practical effects is of great benefit. With the explosions, the gunshots, the creaking of ships sinking in the channel, everything carries heft and increasingly immerses you. I will, however, concede that when the "flotilla" arrives, there are oddly few ships on screen, which takes away (just for a moment) from an otherwise uplifting scene.
The film doesn't need to force a mellow-dramatic "war is hell" moment delivered by a shell-shocked Tommy down your throat. In fact, the whole film feels like one big expression of this feeling, but with a far more subtle and sinister undertone to it. Whitehead, Barnard and Styles don't ever seem to act, so much as react in real time and real life to the action around them, fearful of a faceless enemy we never truly see- all captured perfectly by Van Hoytema. "Dunkirk" feels as much of a horror as it does a war film; there's never a moment or actor that dampens the sense of threat or pulls you out of the moment. Tom Hardy's eyebrows give their best performance to date and the Spitfire scenes are amongst the most entertaining- all of the aforementioned areas (cinematography, sound, music) are perfectly encapsulated in the temporally warped "Air" segments of "Dunkirk".
Ultimately, if you come to "Dunkirk" expecting beautiful dialogue, huge masses of extras conveying the scale of the conflict, or a heart-warming session of flag-waving patriotism, you will be disappointed. There are elements of all three of these things, but they all give way to something else; something earthy and powerful, the likes of which I've never seen in the cinema before. All of this is capped off with the perfect climax of Fionn Whitehead's voice speaking Churchill's words over Zimmer's music; all of which plays over Tom Hardy staring at his burning Spitfire on the wrong side of the channel. Despite moments of despair, it is, much like the events represented, utterly triumphant. We are never led to think of Dunkirk as a victory per se, but when the screen finally went black I couldn't help but find myself tearfully empowered and swelling with pride.
"Dunkirk" is a technical masterpiece, a work of art which expresses everything beautiful about film-making and, at its core, is something touchingly human. I understand, however, that others failed to find this emotion and found the film cold in this regard. This may well come down to something as simple as personal preference, but for this critic; "Dunkirk" is technically perfect, cleverly told, emotionally exhausting and a stunning piece of modern cinema.