I Am Talking To You Leonard

Rating: 10/10 (24 July 2017)

Reading the polarized IMDb reviews for Dunkirk, a film I feel very strongly about, I was reminded of Jonathan Glazer's modern classic Under The Skin, which received a similar split response by audiences. Both films received a highly favorable response or a highly negative one, but I am sure that any viewer with a true understanding of cinematic worth will recognize both as major achievements by their respective directors (I am talking to you Leonard Maltin.) The few professional reviews of Dunkirk that have been negative have criticized the film for having little character, a video-game like feel, and a non-linear story line; but, in truth, although this is very much an ensemble cast, Nolan's choice of little known Fionn Whitehead to lead what is supposed to be a summer blockbuster movie, is brave and astonishingly successful. More well-known actors such as Mark Rylance, Tom Hardy, and Cillian Murphy all play exceptionally strong characters and represent more than their characters and the conflict played out between warring factions on a battle field: they represent the struggle of human nature to persevere in the dire moments when a heroic spirit is required. I do not know how anyone can say that these characters and situations are not heartfelt-- it is true that they are not the neatly defined caricatures we are used to seeing (I am talking to you Leonard Maltin), but they do represent very real humanity struggling to survive in a life or death situation.
As to the non-linear nature of the story telling, it only added to the suspense of the film's climax. Although the time-skipping technique has been used to strong effect in Nolan's other films, this is the first time where I thought it to be less of a clever device and more in service of building climatic dread. Maybe it is the fact that the film's subject felt more historically important than a super hero or cyber-noir blockbuster, but I believe Dunkirk elevates Nolan in the same way that There Will Be Blood elevated Paul Thomas Anderson.
Something more should be said about the dire nature of the film. Dunkirk is a film about the human struggle and the choices that must be made in life, choices that have a lasting effect on human psyche and human health. Although there is a happy resolution of sorts, it is a tangled one, with the death of innocents and the capture of at least one of the film's main heroes by enemy forces. The film seems to say that it is not so much the outcome of these events that is important, but how the individual chooses the handle such events; and there is a clear dichotomy in the film between the hero and the fallen hero archetypes.
I am not a professional reviewer of films, but I do feel that I know in many intrinsic ways what makes a film successful and to what degree a film achieves its goals for film or entertainment. Dunkirk is a resounding success, a modern classic. I wish I could be more articulate in this point, but I have already wasted enough time trying to expound upon something that should already be very clear upon the viewing of this film. Anyone who disagrees has a Disney-fed brain and represents in a multitude of ways what is wrong with our poorer and poorer society (I am talking to you Leonard Maltin.)