The importance of sound.

Rating: 5/10 (28 July 2017)

I won't judge the film based on the cinematography nor the editing nor the scenario. I actually learned a lot with this movie about the importance of sound.
In cinema, and for those who know know how the production of movies works out there, we know that the sound department is a class apart. The first ready to shoot, the least important department during the shooting because anyways, in post-production it will be resolved, right?
This is where Nolan missed it badly and sunk the movie like one of the ships. I sincerely have no idea how the producers let Cristopher Nolan get away with this. Usually the Nolan's movies are so weird in a way that catches people''s attention that they don't pay attention to the plot holes because the atmosphere that are created are so immersive that we don't care.
Dunkirk is not one of his usual movies where the story itself is an unknown with surprises that keeps you on the edge of the seat. Dunkirk is more of a trying to be contemplative like Malick's war movie, and stressful like a Spielberg's war movie. He tried to stay in between the two keeping his overwhelming sound that literally turns off the immersion. He tries so hard to create an atmosphere, that you begin to wonder if he even trust the images he is filming.
The amount of sound in every moment of the film tries so hard to keep you there, that you ask yourself if why not a simple moment of silence could not do the job.
Nolan's team of sound design and mix failed to create an immersive experience (I saw it on IMAX) that made me always stay away of the movie and made me realize the lack of depth in the movie. It's not a "war movie", it's a "survival movie" and the bad sound editing and mixing makes it none of both.
There are some many specific moments that we could discuss (the soldiers in the boat for example) but the main idea is this: I will listen to all movie that are nominated to the Oscars in best sound editing and sound mixing. Nolan and his team failed so bad that we should take a moment to appreciate how hard is the job of the sound department and how precious is a moment of silence.