The Shorter Time Duration Really Pays Off

Rating: 9/10 (15 May 2018)

The British Empire and their allies are have retreated to Dunkirk Beach in France to hideout from German attacks during The Battle Of France in WWII. While they're hiding out it's up to Prime Minister Winston Churchill to send three strands of carriers via land, sea and air to rescue these soldiers and bring them back to safety.
Under the direction and script by Christopher Nolan, "Dunkirk", based of of actual events sends us back to May of 1940 to WWII in the beaches of Dunkirk where soldiers were stranded and it's up to the military to evacuate them whether by air, land or sea. What makes this movie stand out is the unlike most Nolan films that go beyond the two hour mark, this film has been down-sized at just a bit about the 1-45 minute mark. In the end the old quote of "less is more" stands true here with a film not heavily dependent on dialogue and the actions scenes that are scarce, because anywhere past the two hour plateau, this movie would've been overkill. In the end who needs a film with overly done dialogue or gratuitous carnage to tell its story? this is a refreshing war film that can tell a story without going overboard just to get a cheap reaction, but instead to show a real depiction of war being that the fear waiting to be rescued could be just as scary as being injured or killed.
"Dunkirk" is divided between four groups characters with various locations on this isolated beach. They are all stranded in the same time frame and in the duration of their time they are either rescuing people or they are trying to escape the beach. The film is ensemble based and that there is no individual character taking the centre stage. The narrative will guide the viewers about the details of each mission without ever spoon-feeding us or insulting our intelligence. Sure there are those traditional film watchers who might not decipher the whole scope of the film and might dismiss the film as being both confusing and tedious. For those who love and maybe even those who are not fanatic about war there is plenty to enjoy in terms of drama and thrillers the film was executed professionally by an iconic director.
Sure there will be the hardcore warheads who will feel cheated because they wanted to see bloodshed and carnage and brutal fight scenes with guns, grenades and explosions. Well, sorry to trouble you, there will be not much of that. But for those who want to see a real depiction of the war and the characters, it's natural that the characters will offer little in terms of communication. Due to the fears of trust, the horrors they've encountered and restlessness, the beach is not customized for socialization. Stories like these don't need explosions, blood and graphic details to get its message across. Just the narrative of going through the topic of evacuating the stranded off Dunkirk is quite sufficient. By keeping it real and doing the essential research, you can see why it won three Academy Awards.
In its duration of 1 hour and 46 minutes long, the dialogue is only about 30 minutes long total and sure enough fans might be bored of that. But what makes up for the scarce dialogue is the isolation and the intensity of survival on this beach. And being that it takes place in WWII, I think we can all get a grip that the fear of when and where the enemies will strike. Thanks to a haunting score by Hans Zimmer, the score generates quite nicely to the fear these characters are enduring. As audience members we know what is to expect from the back stories, but we can still picture in our minds the graphic scenery these soldiers have endured. Therefore, with grandeur music that upstages the dialogue, it makes the narrative all the more efficient in its storytelling.
"Dunkirk" is war film that is original in terms that it doesn't depend heavily on graphic bloodshed, frequent gunshots and explosions or heavy dialogue. But the music background and the intense atmosphere, complimented with stunning cinematography, this movie is well suited t be a collector's addition being more of a drama film as opposed to a war film. If you want to really get a better grip of the style of direction Christopher Nolan is noted for than this movie is for you. An award-winning film released at a time when the award season wasn't featured.