One of the most ambitious films of the year

Rating: 8/10 (21 July 2017)

Dunkirk was released in 2017 and was directed by Christopher Nolan. The film is a representation of the events that occurred in Dunkirk during the second World War when hundreds of thousands of British soldiers were trapped on the island's beaches whilst waiting for help to come.
Christopher Nolan is a director well-known in the filmmaking industry today for being very ambitious and making films huge in scope; this film is a prime example. The film never tries to change itself to suit another audience or sub-genre and sticks to its own agenda of telling the story of the events that actually went down and how they occurred, which is why some audience members may not be huge fans of this film.
The film isn't like most other war films such as Saving Private Ryan which incorporate many drama elements into them to make a more involving story; this film chooses to focus on the scale of the event rather than focusing on the characters of the film, focusing on characters being typically what most war films do and how the situation they are in is affecting them. The characters of this film are not a big part and there isn't much dialogue in the film either, which may put off some audience members for not being able to connect with characters. However, I do very much appreciate the fact that the film was never overly-dramatised or included needless exposition for the characters as they are not the focal point of the film, which is the main thing that sets this film apart from other war films I have seen.
As I've mentioned multiple times, the film is very ambitious in showing the scale of this event: the film has three different story lines occurring simultaneously (one on land, one on sea, one on air) which helps to show how the event affected many more than just the soldiers stranded on the island. Also, the film is visually fantastic as well as the sound too; every single time a bullet shot or a plane flew by, I as an audience member felt in the moment of what had happened. The music in the background also added to the intensity of the film, one notable part of the score was a clock ticking throughout which added to the sense of urgency in each scene. There never really is a second in the film where anything stops to take a breath.
What I appreciated the most about Dunkirk was how it was rather experimental in parts, and has tried things that many other war films have never done before. The fact that the event itself was chose as the focal point was the key to creating an immersive cinematic experience and it was an "experiment" that overall proved to be very effective. It never turns over to show the political side to the story or add unnecessary character drama as, as Nolan himself as stated, it would "make the film bogged down" so it never felt over-crammed or messy, which is something difficult to avoid when telling a story with multiple aspects and sides to it. Thankfully the film wasn't overly long either, having a runtime of just 105 minutes when compared to other films of Nolan's such as The Dark Knight Rises (which has a runtime of around 165 minutes) and therefore it never dragged on or felt stretched out or boring.
Overall, Dunkirk is a film that may not be appealing to most audience members due to it taking a risk in its focal point, however I very much appreciated a change in style and this is a war film that I will definitely always remember and hopefully others will too. I would highly recommend this film, however only to the right audience.
8.1/10