Revisiting DUNKIRK

Rating: 10/10 (2 August 2017)

British director Christopher Nolan is known for being an individualist when it comes to the films he does. Although he is known for doing "commercial" films like BATMAN BEGINS, THE DARK KNIGHT, and THE DARK KNIGHT RISES, many others have seen a more complex side to Mr. Nolan with such psychological thrillers as 2000's MEMENTO; 2002's INSOMNIA; and 2010's INCEPTION, as well as his 2014 science fiction epic INTERSTELLAR (a film to be placed up there with 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY). Now, in 2017, he tackles the dark subject of the early part of World War II in DUNKIRK.
The film essentially ties five different plot lines into the evacuation of French, Dutch, and British soldiers from the French city of Dunkirk in the late spring of 1940 as the German army is about to sweep in and annihilate them. This includes, among other things, British civilians evacuating as many soldiers as they can on the dangerous English Channel crossing, including one portrayed in usual brilliant low-key style by Mark Rylance. Apart from the appearances of Rylance; Kenneth Branagh as an English commander; and Harry Styles as one of the British soldiers caught up in the horror of this battle, most of the actors are young and anonymous types convincingly portraying average people caught up in an apocalypse that threatens to engulf not only England and Europe, but the entire human race. In an era where linear spectacle is the order of the day, Nolan does just the opposite, intertwining several different strands into one complete film, with a maximum amount of visual spectacle, but also putting this battle into focus in a mere hour and fifty minutes. While Nolan doesn't go into the graphic horror of the opening D-Day invasion of SAVING PRIVATE RYAN, he nevertheless makes the tension palpable the entire time.
Nolan wisely doesn't explain all that much, which is what any good filmmaker, especially if he has written and directed the film (as is the case here), should do. This is what makes DUNKIRK a compelling film, and a sure contender for one of the best films of 2017.