Innovative take on the war film

Rating: 8/10 (2 January 2018)

'Dunkirk' is Nolan's first war film and as such, it's not typical or predictable. There's no real introduction to the characters - we're suddenly in the middle of 400,000 Allied troops being evacuated from France back to England in the middle or World War II. It's filmed from three perspectives (which works quite well): the land, where Tommy (Whitehead) is trying to get off the beach and Bolton (Branagh) is trying to organize the retreat; the ocean, where Dawson (Rylance) & his son Peter are on a small boat; and the air, where Farrier (Hardy) & Collins (Lowden) are trying to stop the German bombers.
The first thing you notice is the score - by Hans Zimmer - as each of the different viewpoints has it's own motif, but they are all very persistent and add to the tension and desperation of the soldiers to escape. It's interesting that you never actually see any German soldiers and "Nazis" are never mentioned, just "the enemy". There's no real main character - perhaps Whitehead, as a young, out-of-place infantryman - but they all seem realistic and suitably distraught, just trying their best to survive and make it home. The definition of "lose the battle, but win the war".
It's nice to see all the British civilian boats arrive across the English Channel (which looks great in most shots, obviously filmed on a rare sunny day!), with Rylance as the moral compass, and there's plenty of drama on the beach, but the plane battles are probably the highlight, having you on the edge of your seat, leaning with the pilots. It's short - 105min, so not an "epic" - and won't be remembered as the new 'Saving Private Ryan', but it's just as good as last year's 'Hacksaw Ridge'.