The immersive 'experience' of war that highlights human insignificance

Rating: 8/10 (28 July 2017)

Dunkirk tells the well known British story of the decisive WWII battle held at Dunkirk, "The Miracle of Dunkirk." Dunkirk is a brilliant atmospheric drama/thriller, it serves brilliantly as to tell the story of a historical event from multiple perspectives through immersing audiences in the midst of the battle and the intensity of the atmosphere.
Dunkirk made the stylistic choice to not let audiences get attached to any one character and truly is highlighting the horrors and struggles of the event itself. It focuses on the situation rather than the characters as most war film does, as a result we never get much backstory on any characters and many characters can be confusing to follow and connect with. However as I said this is a stylistic choice not a production flaw and it is a decision that I liked. I liked that Christopher Nolan chose a less conventional route to tell a war story and I think that this is a very interesting way of depicting an event that for the participants must seem extremely dire and helpless.
Tom Hardy once again does an amazing job despite once again having half his face covered, yet he still manages to do such an amazing work with his eyes alone. Other than Hardy, Harry Style's acting debut also delivered well and I am looking forward to any of his future works.
In fact it seems like a direct personal comment from Nolan to the audience of the true atrocities and horrors of war, by not highlighting the story behind these individuals they seem to lose significance and character almost as if they never existed, now this is a powerful statement in contrary to the clichéd war film trope that depict things like, valorous men charging into battle, widows and children receiving the country's honors, men sharing stories in the thick of battle. No, Nolan chose not to glorify war by showing us what great characters these people are but chooses to throw out the stone cold truth of the insignificance of men in the thick of war and under the mercy of fighter planes. In fact it is even highlighted at one point that prime minister Winston Churchill demands a certain amount of men to return as if they were just statistics and figures, this is a film that doesn't shy away from the political truths of war and serves to caution and remind us of the horrors of war, a reminder to audiences to get their head out of some sort of a dramatised glorified depiction of war.