Visually Stunning

Rating: 9/10 (22 July 2017)

Well, Nolan has certainly left his mark on modern cinema, and in a way what he seems to have done is merged independent cinema with that of the big blockbuster. The reason that I mention this is because at times this film actually felt as if it was more of an art house production that anything else, particularly when the hero, who doesn't seem to have a name, emerges onto the beach to see lines and lines of soldiers standing there waiting to be picked up, and then looking for a way in which to cut to the front of the lines. The other thing is that the dialogue is quite minimal – it seems as if he is simply letting the visuals tell us the story than anything else.
To say that this film has been heavily promoted is an understatement – it's as if the producers and the film company are going out of their way to make this film the film of 2017, and are probably also angling for an academy award, but then again most serious film makers have that as a goal, even though it tends to be much more political that actually having any real merit for creative, artistic, and acting ability. Yet this film is incredible in the way that it just drags you into the action and the desperation that the British troops must have felt while standing on that beach with the Germans closing in on them.
I'm sure we all know about Dunkirk, and if you don't then all I can say is 'Google it'. However, the film is constructed through three intervening time lines. At first it seems a little confusing, particularly since in one part it seems to be day, but they then cut to another scene and it is night. However it then clicked that at the beginning of the film, when he is introducing the three stories – that of the soldier's on the beach, the boats crossing the channel, and the two planes flying over, that the times are different. This is one of Nolan's specialities, that he is able to merge three different times into a single thread, and then have them all come together. At first we see things that appear to be disconnected but as the film progresses it suddenly all starts to make sense.
In a way what we have here is a memorial to the battle, or more so the evacuation, that helped Britian and the allies win the war, even though it was only in its initial stages. The evacuation of three-hundred thousand troops, while under fire, using only small boats, is something to be remembered. The thing is that the Russians attempted a similar thing at Kerch when the Germans invaded the Crimea, and they failed, but then I guess the Germans had learned from Dunkirk by that time. In a way it is about how a whole nation came together to work together to fight off a common enemy.
There are a couple of things to note though, because despite all of this we are still confronted with the selfishness of some of the soldiers, who are attempting to spare their own lives, and in doing so we note that innocent people die. However, despite these lone wolves, for want of a better word, the operation was still a success. The other thing that Nolan draws out is the feeling of hopelessness and betrayal that the soldier's felt – they had lost the battle and it seemed like the war, however when they finally arrived home they came home to a heroes welcome. It was in fact quite a moving part of the film. However, it seemed that despite everything, I was a little surprised to find that there were so few planes in the air – I thought maybe there would be much, much more over Dunkirk at the time, but then again that was a minor issue with an otherwise outstanding film.