a review of 敦刻尔克

Harrowing. Christopher Nolan's war film is not about big, bloody battles. Dunkirk's story takes place from several different perspectives. Cutoff and stranded, the British and French soldiers are just doing what they can to survive as the Nazi's repeated attacks continue to reduce their numbers and moral as escape attempts are thwarted left and right. We will witness events from the eyes of those trying to leave Dunkirk and those trying to reach it in order to help, all primarily from the British viewpoint. An exquisitely beautiful film, Dunkirk surprised me by just how well it was able to convey the feelings of desperation the characters have without much spoken dialog. The tone is sad and even hopeless. Yet, things are never bleak enough to make it come off as a depressing experience a la The Road. No matter how brutal the setbacks are there's an undercurrent of light running throughout the film that keeps things from bringing the viewers down with a sense of all hope being lost for those onscreen. The ending is incredibly emotional, and not just for those with a soft spot for the military. These are more than just soldiers doing what is required of them. They are real people just trying to make it home or want to help. It's not just duty; it's humanity. I found a slight, but fairly significant issue with how the narrative was presented. It's not entirely linear. There's a section in the latter half of the film where it will recap back to earlier events so that we may experience it from a different character. The time gap in between when we first witnessed it from a different perspective to when we make the leap back is so big it threw me off for a minute in regards to the timeline of events. I honestly can't think of a reason why Nolan didn't play it linearly outside of artistic/stylistic reasons. Personally, I think the choice hurt the flow of the movie. Dunkirk is an impressive WWII movie that relies on it's characters and situation to portray the intensity of the war without relying on Nazi gunfire. In fact, we never actually see a Nazi onscreen. Some of their planes, yeah, but there isn't a traditional battle sequence to be found. None of the movie's power has been lost in taking this approach. Something that speaks well of the director's immense talent. It's a gripping film that will have you caring about characters before you even really hear them speak. Never before has such an awful situation made for such a beautiful watch.