DUNKIRK - Movie Review

“You can practically see it from here.”

“What”

“Home.”

8/10

What an honour to be posting this review on Christopher Nolan’s birthday! So I went to see Dunkirk in 70 millimetre and gathering from all the information and mixed reviews from critics and audience members, I made sure I knew what sort of film I was getting myself into.

Right from the beginning, Christopher Nolan successfully encapsulates the eeriness and tensity of war and battle considering this is a historic event of the Dunkirk evacuation in 1940. Having seen it 70 mill or in a theatre even, sound effects are incredibly impactful. Whenever a gun, bomb or an explosion goes off, not only do you hear it but you also feel it! The film is visually stunning and impactful from camera movement, editing to cinematography. The effects and visuals are cleanly polished enough for it to look realistic and pure and not artificial: from the crisp blue sea to the golden grains of sand on the beaches, to the white enamel ships, the visuals made me engulfed in the environment these soldiers were constantly trying to survive in an hourly rate.

Speaking of the characters… any backstory or hero in this film was not needed for me to already care for these people, the situation these soldiers were in already made me feel for them. Keep it in mind, this is solely based on the true event of the Dunkirk evacuation mid Second World War. Having said that, there are no characters in this film which further increases the realism and in a way these are how soldiers in war are seen: nameless. It was the right choice for Nolan to have this film focus on no individual character with no backstory, and just have it focus on the War itself, maintaining its importance.

Tom Hardy pulled off a great performance as the Air Pilot in this film. There is usually this running gag that most of his roles, his mouth is covered. In this one, of course he is and you can of course see it in his eyes which is enough to give a great performance. You could see the concentration, determination as well as lack of hope in his eyes. To reiterate what Sir Michael Caine said, “Acting is all in the eyes,” Clearly from this film as well as the rest of his roles, Tom Hardy must have had his acting lessons from Caine. He was one of the characters, I strongly routed for.

I was also impressed with Harry Styles performance in Dunkirk as one of the young soldiers. He truly pulled off a decent performance even though he didn’t carry the film, he did not have to thus there was less pressure on him. From what I have seen from him, I am eager to see where his movie career will take him to next. Another case of casting heart throbs like Heath Ledger, eh Nolan? Ha ha!

Moving on… my main issue with the film which kept bothering me throughout was the score. Hans Zimmer, my favourite as well as one of Hollywood’s most well known and versatile music composers, once again manages to apply his trademark of suspenseful and eerie instrumental pieces, which blend well with the intensity of each scene in Dunkirk.

However despite how much I enjoyed the score, it tends to carry on and drag on for too long that it never takes a minute to quiet down. To put it bluntly as others may say, ‘loud and annoying.’ And of course this criticism is often met with the similar come back of “Oh, loud and annoying, huh? Much like War. Now you know how the soldiers feel!” Yes, I understand where you are coming from but saying that is like saying. “I’m going to make a film about a blind man and I’m going to make half the film pitch black. You can’t see anything? Well now you know how the character feels!” Not only that but it also overpowers the sound of dialogue in between the ‘characters’ in this film. I do not know whether it was my theatre or that I am less incapable of hearing than others, it just irritated me as I could barely hear nor understand what they were saying.

Another issue which I have is the incoherent continuity of its storytelling. I am aware this film’s narrative structure is non-linear, which I am a fan of, however this film is not clear with that. It does not inform the audience of the order in which things are occurring, it actually caught me by surprise once a same character had another scene in the night time right after daytime scene which finally gave it away.

Compare it to Memento which immediately informed the audience the chronology in which things are occurring by reversing the footage. In The Following you could see when each scene was happening in the narrative by seeing the changes in the features of the main character. In Dunkirk, you do not get any notification of it’s narrative structure which can be confusing, it just tells and expects you to just roll with it. This whole film just shows clip after clip after clip and these scene, in a way eventually collide but it still was not clear enough for me.

However this is from my experience of watching Nolan’s latest film and I am pretty sure other Nolan fans may catch on quicker than I have. I applaud that Nolan made what he wanted to make. This isn’t your usual run of the mill hero’s quest saving the day because in war, there are no heroes, only survivors.

I firmly believe that this film will go down in history as one of the most versatile and unique War films that you have ever seen. I could say this film has a lot of flaws however I strongly believe in and stick to the positives of this film more. It’s more of Style over Substance film which I really enjoyed experiencing and I have to say Nolan’s new style grew on me. Some might get it, others may not. This film felt like a historical reenactment than a movie, if not a documentary due to its vast realism, thus holding back on narrative buildup and characters which further proves this film to be a misunderstood cinematic art.

It was well directed, visually stunning, the sound effects were powerful as well as the score it truly does have your heart pumping, all of the actors performed exceptionally well considering they had very little to work with in terms of story and character, the scenes were suspenseful and impactful, I was on the edge of my seat with eager anticipation with each one and above all this film carried a strong and powerful message.

In the words of Tom Glynne-Carney who played the blonde teenage boy in the ferry with Mark Rylance, “Dunkirk is about courage and community not war” To that, I wholeheartedly agree with that statement. People helping one another through thick and thin through darkest times such as what these men had to go through and I would say due to this, the soldiers who are here today, which this film pays tribute to will appreciate Nolan’s homage.