Visually and aurally emotional, gripping and pulsating

Rating: 10/10 (26 August 2017)

I really liked Dunkirk. I consider it one of the best movies (if not the best movie) of 2017.
I have never gone to see a movie because of a director or any particular actor. Frankly, this is the first time that I have learned of the "fame" of Thomas Nolan and the movies he made. I loved "Interstellar", liked "inception" and not once did I notice Thomas Nolan's name. "Dunkirk", I feel, surpasses both.
I saw the movie in an IMax cinema. I'm glad I did and, frankly, I'm glad too that I read some of the positive and negative reviews here on IMDb. They prepared me for the non-linear progression of the movie, the loud, booming soundtrack, lack of character development as well as no central character or a story line / plot. Yes, I saw all of these "faults" but, for me, these were the very things that made the movie so compellingly emotional and gripping.
Dialogue was minimal but the little that was said contributed very nicely to what the movie was trying to convey. Much of the movie's message was through the visuals and the soundtrack. The facial expressions, body language, the planes' and ships' "roles", the simple acts of eating slices of bread and jam and the subdued reading of Churchill's words all contributed to the montage. You could actually "see" the words, feelings and agonizing decisions going through each character's eyes and the actions they took. The flashbacks connected the three "central" groups that culminated in the final result.
Somewhat surprisingly, even to myself, I found the lack of numbers in terms of soldiers, ships, boats and planes appropriate to the feel and atmosphere of the film. It conveyed to me the sense of desolation and being alone despite even the few hundred that we see standing around on the beach and pier.
I noticed too the lack of CGI which, for me at least, made it so much more true to life. Some negative reviews asked where the production money went. I believe quite a bit of it must have gone to the sinking of actual ships and boats or, at the very least, full-size props in broad daylight and not behind a screen of smoke, fire or the dark of night. As a result, the sinking and drowning of men trapped in compartments or under a capsizing ship felt so horrific and intense. For me, again, the sinking of the Titanic was nowhere near as good.
Thinking back, too, not once did I see the face or uniform of a German soldier or pilot. This obvious omission actually adds to the primary focus on the soldiers and ordinary people involved in the struggle of survival and rescue at Dunkirk.
I've seen a lot of plane and space ship crashes which, while dramatic and life-like, are still obviously a result of CGI. If the planes ditching and the ships sinking were CGI, they must be the best I've seen.
A quick Internet search does show that CGI was kept to a minimal. Some 60 real ships (some actually from WWII) were found and they had to coordinate these ships driven by real people in the scenes. The RAF fighters and Messerschmitts were real and flown in the air battle scenes.
Let me quote from an online article from the Independent UK: "Everything happens in real life in real time."
It's obvious then that the producers and Thomas Nolan could have very easily expanded the number of extras, boats, ships and planes with CGI which they chose not to use. I'm glad they didn't. I'm not saying they used none but they did say they kept it minimal, the result being keeping it seamless and very real. CGI, while impressive in its own right, is in the end to all movie-goers, discernible. I've always had a slight tinge of disappointment when I see this, though I still enjoy the movie.
Dunkirk is not a war movie. Don't go and see it if you're expecting one. It's about survival, emotions and life-or-death decision-making. Dunkirk provided the location (actually shot there) and the situation. The producers should have said in their trailers and on their posters that this was not a war movie.
I went to see the movie with my sister (the first in the last 10 or so years) and a couple of her friends. Except for one of her friends who felt there should have been more of a plot, we were totally engrossed in the roller-coaster of emotions, visuals and the sound track. The cinema was 80% empty (for which we were actually glad) and only one viewer left early (a young man in his 20's). One movie-goer actually clapped at the end. I didn't, though I was tempted too and would have meant it if I did.
It was a sense of peace that I felt when I looked into the face of the pilot, knowing that the right decision had been made.
As a final note, I would like to quote again from the online article of the Independent UK: "Everyone on set was permanently aware and alert – no one was looking at their cell phones or sitting around. They were all completely absorbed in the action ..."