Christopher Nolan's ode is a cutting-edge gem of technical art

Rating: 9/10 (29 August 2017)

Christopher Nolan is one of the almost non-existent filmmakers who keep active excitement with every new release, in this way, three years after his last work, he raises a love letter to war cinema, a mega-production that highlights, in capital letters, an experience that gets by without dialogues, even episodically. Narratively, it's his film less cerebral and ambitious among a gold catalog led by "Interstellar" and "Inception", however, from the beginning, the story feels warm in its coldness, he assiduously introduces us into the heartless event. The given approach generates partiality in audience opinions since it poses a triplet of plots in parallel: German perspective from their air force planes, the point of view of the independent boat of a veteran and the journey of the main actors through the tragedy, a trio of soldiers who live their own hell. Without falling into subjectivities or appropriations — although director's grandfather was a British soldier who perished in those lands —, Nolan is set at the edge of situations injecting a tempo of the gods, specific dialogues in its effectiveness, and performances denoting professionalism. Being a learned man in the field of selection of tones and objectives for his psychological stories, his greatest strength lies in his form of making movies, here, Nolan displays a new record, one easier to keep pace: Narration in pictures.
The first scene is the best letter of presentation, which will serve as a pattern, for a film imparting intensity. The movie conjures up superlative landscapes, the opening sequence is the entrance of a superb artistic hypnosis, a display of magnificent frames strengthened by a majestic 70 mm and IMAX cameras, the colors and shadows explicit in pictures are which lead the story by far. Functional aerial shots from unsuspected angles, explosions, and gunshots piercing our senses, respectful and quasi-negligible digital effects that ratify the commitment to turn a movie ticket into an absolute visceral experience. Clearly, Nolan film would not be exempt from allegories and metaphors through images; the grayish scum brought by the strong tide is a synonym of human filth, the framing of the soldier taking off his attire and running to death on his own, portraying defeat and pride, the corpses that are buried by snorting wind, the endless lines of men in pursuit of "salvation", the palette of blues and greens from the scene where soldiers contemplate an imminent attack, the three men looking at nowhere, the corpses returning to the shore, the covenant between two men burying one innocent under rough sand or the perfect framings of Kenneth Branagh and Tom Hardy are dreamy compositions that speak through colors, shadows, lighting and setting, a master class of cinematography and photography. The seventh art didn't deliver as such adrenaline and justified action in a non-commercial film for a long time, an artistic and technical triumph. Get ready, because "Dunkirk" is going to transcend.
Hans Zimmer, a faithful Musketeer, returns recharged and ready to rise with well-deserved awards at the expense of his scores that not only include atmospheric obligations, these try to emulate stressful melody of a countdown, atomic effect of explosive artifacts, meteoric heartbeat or oxygen deficiency of the martyrs, a list of cadences endowing scenes with energy and tension like no other war film. Mr. Zimmer's wonders gain greater strength to the excellent work in the sound editing room, which accompanied by Shepard tone, are exciting. Gunshots are deafening, they are combined with the soundtrack, the crackling of the fire, the teeth chattering of a soldier, the cries of help under the water or the overflight over our heads provoke one of the most compelling cinematic experiences.
I will never forget "Dunkirk", the movie that made me lose my record about seeing a film in IMAX cinemas, two words: mind-blowing and memorable.
Some familiar faces go back, flaunting their high acting capacities. Hardy, Rylance and Murphy manage the cast purely masculine, understandable due to the context of the events. Each one offers spirit and personality to their characters to ease the following of the story. The performances of newcomers Fionn Whitehead, Jack Lowden and new soloist Harry Styles are laudable and rewarding in the skin of children with war uniforms. In fact, Whitehead and Styles make a powerful debut that places them on the radar of quality directors, also in a panorama of acting prestige.
What would be the best words to describe "Dunkirk"? When the logo of Warner and Syncopy, bathed in a light blue, are unified with the war melodies, my feelings and sensations exploded of delight for the work of Christopher Nolan, creator of cinema with deep fundamentals and objectives. Brimming with complex and magnanimous technical components, intelligent and moving performances, a tremendous soundtrack and unmistakable and always welcome Nolan touch, "Dunkirk" becomes one of the best cinematographic experience so far this year, likewise, its function of entertaining for two hours with lights and pirouettes is relegated by the message of peace, unity and solidarity, three constituents not present in our anatomy. Did you think that one of the greatest war speeches in history — promulgated by the British politician Winston Churchill — recited by the protagonist was limited merely to the circumstance of the film?