Good things come in small packages

Rating: 7/10 (18 February 2018)

After watching 'Darkest Hour' where Operation Dynamo was conceived, comes 'Dunkirk' where it was implemented: civilian boats were called by the Royal Navy to assist in the evacuation of the more than 400,000 British, French and Belgian soldiers trapped at the beaches of Dunkirk, France.
The movie shows three perspectives of the evacuation: Land, you can see hundreds of soldiers lining up at the beach waiting to be rescued; Air, three British Air Force fighter planes are trying to ward off German planes from going after the evacuating fleet; Sea, where the ships and boats try to outmaneuver the German planes while keeping itself afloat even if at overcapacity.
After watching this movie, I sort of felt empty as I struggle to empathize with any of the movie's characters. This is a war movie after all and as Hollywood is wont to do, they pick a main character and show his struggles and eventual victory (Hacksaw Ridge, Hurt Locker, American Sniper, etc.) but Christopher Nolan went with a different direction, focusing on the soldiers' chances of survival as the carrier of the film (and getting his first Best Director nomination in the process.) The cinematography is worth mentioning as well, especially the aerial shots of the ocean from the perspective of the pilots, most notably Tom Hardy who I believe could've made this movie a million times better if only they found a way to make him fly a plane without his mask on.
Favorite quote:
Blind Man: Well done, lads. Well done.
Soldier: All we did is survive.
Blind Man: That's enough.