The Innovation of Nolan Creates the Best War Film Since "Saving Private Ryan"

Rating: 10/10 (13 August 2017)

The Director of "The Prestige" has made a war film which may be unlike any war film to date. From the beginnings of filmmaking about the Second World War from the late 1940's, most stories were very linear from circa 1946 to 1970. The characters were established, we knew the bad guys and the good guys, and we followed the good guys through a series of wartime events. Even if the narrative was devastating in certain scenes, audiences could more or less follow along and know that somehow things would turn out all right for the characters. Often the Germans were painted as being not quite as intelligent as those among the Allies. Beginning in the 1970's and into the 1980's, war films became less idealized, less heroic and more gritty with offerings such as "Patton", "Full Metal Jacket", "Platoon", and "Saving Private Ryan". On the shoulders of Stanley Kubrick, Oliver Stone, and Steven Spielberg, Christopher Nolan has taken the genre even further away from the linear story to new depths, painting a picture which is not only more gritty but much less predictable. War is not linear at all, and no one knows how everything will turn out. The twists and turns of war make for a "bloody mess indeed", to quote Ivor Gurney from his poem about the First World War "The Target". And on a personal note, this is the first time I've ever seen a film with Academy Award potential starring an actor with my last name!
A bit of background is necessary, which is the only piece missing from Nolan's otherwise nearly perfect film. Dunkirk was one of the most devastating episodes for the Allies during the Second World War prior to the United States' involvement. How events unfolded at Dunkirk would be one of the most compelling reasons for the US to enter the war. Dunkirk concerns the lost cause of France's War with Germany. Thousands of allied troops were cut off from the main armies at Dunkirk, a port town in the northern middle tip of France close to the border with the Netherlands. The Germans were closing in on this region, and the allied troops were stranded on the coast of the English Channel, essentially sitting ducks. They were in desperate need to evacuate otherwise thousands of troops would be either slaughtered or captured. No ships were being brought in to save the desperate soldiers. While ground troops were holding off the German foot soldiers inland, German aircraft were bombing the soldiers from above.
The film explores three points of view. A British private, aptly named "Tommy" (Fionn Whitehead), who we see at first sprinting through the town of Dunkirk avoiding enemy fire. He eventually comes to the beaches where the rest of the Dunkirk soldiers are stranded. We meet Peter (Tom Glynn-Carney), a young civilian and son of an older gentleman Mr Dawson (Mark Rylance) who owns a small yacht. We see them launching from the shores of Britain. And the last is Officer Collins (Jack Lowden), a Royal Air Force Spitfire pilot. Kenneth Branagh has a supporting role as Commander Bolton, the commanding officer in charge of the stranded troops who are hoping for evacuation from France which has become, at this point in the War, a lost cause.
The film begins by introducing the three characters and their points of view concerning how they experience Dunkirk which is how the narrative unfolds. Tommy eventually comes to the beaches but realizes there's little hope for escape or reprieve. Some ships have arrived but they are primarily concerned with transporting the wounded. Peter along with his friend George and Peter's father are on a yacht sailing into the English Channel to help the allied cause in some way. George helps to stock the little boat with life jackets. And finally Officer Collins, the spitfire pilot, is attacking the enemy German aircraft which has been pummeling the allied troops and ships with bombs and gunfire at the beaches.
The brilliance of "Dunkirk" is how it shows that war is a very non-linear and frantic business. Events just happen, seeming out of nowhere. Also, when an episode of one character temporarily ends, we retrace back to the end of the view of the last character where we left off. For example, Tommy and another ground solider, "Gibson" (Aneurin Barnard), a French solider trying to pass off as a British private, try to board a ship with the wounded by carrying on a gurney a casualty they find on the beaches after a German air raid. We then cut to the civilians yacht and/or the pilot and then return back to the privates carrying the gurney. About a third of the way through the narrative, Mr. Dawson, Peter and George rescue a soldier atop of a wrecked ship, the victim of a U-Boat attack. We then learn that the civilians with their yacht have set a course for Dunkirk. Their first passenger begins to protest their destination, and the protests become violent. Officer Collins is the potential hero of the story, where his cunning and training are aimed at German aircraft.
The acting is top-notch, bringing the viewer right into the desperateness of what these soldiers must face. Nothing plays out as expected. At moments when the situation appears to be improving, another lightning bolt hits the characters forcing them to deal with yet more devastating circumstances. War is not only hell. It's bloody inconvenient! Ultimately a masterpiece of war filmmaking which will sit beside others of the genre, such as "Saving Private Ryan" and "Platoon". This is war at its grittiest and not for those looking for a neat and tidy linear story which is what the Second World War should have been but never was.