Storytelling At Its Very Finest

Rating: 9/10 (22 July 2017)

This is a very atypical movie, where the story is paramount and the characters both support and provide the symbolism. Fionn Whitehead's character is named Tommy, the nickname given for British soldiers. That's exactly what he is, a common soldier with all the human attributes. No phony heroism here. He does both good and bad just as any human would given the desperate situation he was faced with. French soldiers were stopped from boarding British vessels in the first day or two of the evacuation, as depicted. There was a definite animosity between the two allied forces at all levels. Christopher Nolan presents with the truth, warts and all.
Of particular note is the story line involving Mark Rylance as Mr.Dawson. His small boat is requisitioned by the Navy to help in the evacuation and chooses to sail it himself with the aid of his son Peter (Tom Glynn-Carney) and a younger boy George (Barry Keoghan). While most of this story line is fictionalised, certain aspects appear to based on the voyage to the beaches by the pinnace "Sundowner" and her remarkable owner Commander Charles Lightoller, the senior surviving officer of RMS Titanic. As they sail back to England fully loaded with survivors, a German fighter attacks and Mr. Dawson precisely directs Peter to avoid its attack. A rescued RAF pilot asks Peter if his father was in the RAf. No, replies Peter, his older brother was and he had been killed very early in the war. This is almost exactly from the Lightoller story. Rather than sensationalise this story, it is deftly woven into the narrative of the fictional characters and works remarkably well.
Finally, it is up to Tommy to tell us the meaning of this carnage. Rather than 30,000 troops being rescued, nearly 10 times that were brought back to fight another day. While riding a train from the coast, he reads Churchill's famous speech, beginning with "Wars are not won by evacuations" and climaxing with "We shall never surrender." Rather than bringing someone to portray the Great Briton, Mr. Nolan chooses to put these majestic words in the mouth of his a private soldier. It resonates with power.
This movie strengths are its subtlety and fidelity to story telling rather than providing star turns for the actors. It is a tribute to the entire cast that they followed Mr. Nolan's plan and together brought forth this powerful retelling of the Miracle of Dunkirk.