Not your typical war film

Rating: 8/10 (27 August 2017)

Dunkirk is not a typical "war movie" that revolves around a set of stock characters. It's an attempt to tell a very involved historical narrative by creating a few plot "threads" that represent the various aspects of the event (the pilots, the soldiers on the beach, the commanders, the civilians). It was helpful to me to have just finished reading Walter Lord's book on the subject. I think a lot of viewers are left stranded because they have virtually no context for what they are seeing, except for a few brief sentences on the screen at the beginning. There are some fine actors (Branagh, D'arcy etc.) who aren't given much to do. Director Nolan once again hides Tom Hardy's face for almost an entire movie (he was Bane in the Batman trilogy), and there isn't much traditional dialogue. The only "fleshed out" thread is about the civilian boat owner (Mark Rylance), his two young helpers, and the slightly mad soldier they fish out of the water (Cillian Murphy, alias "Scarecrow"). That story really helps hold the movie together, and brings out the most emotional response. The movie as a whole is an incredible visceral experience, almost an assault on the senses, between the overwhelmingly noisy soundtrack and the acrobatic shaky-cam visuals. The occasional still shot brought incredible relief after bouncing up and down inside a hull or chasing a Heinkel through the air. Even though the story is not sequential, or complete in terms of the Dunkirk operation, Nolan provides enough "you are there" bits and pieces to tell the story from the evacuation beach back to England. The last shot was a little odd: all sound ceases, and we see the face of one of the soldiers on a train for just a couple of seconds, with the sound of him crinkling his newspaper. Hans Zimmer's almost non-stop score was a barrage of scratching strings, moaning brass, and interminable drones and long, half-step descents. It was the audio equivalent of a root canal, and made Penderecki's "Threnody" seem like one of the snoozier tracks from a Mantovani LP. When he finally gave us an actual tune (one of Elgar's best), it was such a relief that it triggered a gut-level emotional response. The cinematography was top-notch, and as always, Nolan has an eye for unforgettable visuals. So by all means see it, but you would be well served by doing some historical homework first.