Dunkirk Review – Nolan’s Epic Ode to the British War Film

<p>Throughout Christopher Nolan&&num;8217&semi;s films&comma; we&&num;8217&semi;ve seen the consequences of his characters actions&period; In <em>Memento&comma; <&sol;em>the course of one man&&num;8217&semi;s life is changed because of a note he won&&num;8217&semi;t recall writing on a Polaroid photo&period; The lead characters of <em>The Prestige<&sol;em> ruin their lives from acts of revenge over the death of a loved one and whether a certain knot was tied or wasn&&num;8217&semi;t&period; What Nolan does in <em>Dunkirk <&sol;em>is simplify his storytelling to show the effects these soldiers choices have on themselves and others&period; By &lpar;somewhat&rpar; streamlining his usual complex storytelling&comma; the writer&sol;director balances three simple storylines and occasionally melding action-packed sequences into something even bigger&period; <em>Dunkirk <&sol;em>is a messy and gorgeous version of the British war film&comma; for better and worse&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>Dunkirk <&sol;em>focuses on three different areas of the battle&period; The land storyline takes place over one week&comma; the water takes place over one day&comma; and the air happens over one hour&period; The land story features Tommy &lpar;Fionn Whitehead&rpar; on his journey to get off of the beach of Dunkirk&period; The water stars Mark Rylance and two teenagers rescuing the soldiers out of the water&period; The air&comma; which features some of the best cinematography I&&num;8217&semi;ve seen in years&comma; follows Tom Hardy&&num;8217&semi;s Farrier and Jack Lowden as Collins&period; Each of these cut between each other and eventually meld together with uneven results&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;127757" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-127757" style&equals;"width&colon; 960px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2017&sol;07&sol;25134606&sol;MV5BMTYwNDE1OTYyNl5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwNzgyNDY4MjI&percnt;40&period;&lowbar;V1&lowbar;SX1500&lowbar;CR001500999&lowbar;AL&lowbar;-e1501004840222&period;jpg"><img class&equals;"wp-image-127757 size-full" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2017&sol;07&sol;25134606&sol;MV5BMTYwNDE1OTYyNl5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwNzgyNDY4MjI&percnt;40&period;&lowbar;V1&lowbar;SX1500&lowbar;CR001500999&lowbar;AL&lowbar;-e1501004840222&period;jpg" alt&equals;"Dunkirk &lowbar; One" width&equals;"960" height&equals;"639" &sol;><&sol;a><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-127757" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">&lpar;Dunkirk&comma; Warner Bros&period;&rpar;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>The way the narrative is structured implies that the way it&&num;8217&semi;s framed is the most impactful way to present itself&period; That&&num;8217&semi;s not to say there aren&&num;8217&semi;t great moments when the stories do align&period; A lot of the action is framed so the next storyline will add to the tension of the former&period; Sadly&comma; this film could probably do just telling the stories separately&period; Or at the very least&comma; it doesn&&num;8217&semi;t feel like that decision would be any worse&period; For a director that&&num;8217&semi;s known for the different ways he can frame his narratives&comma; <em>Dunkirk <&sol;em>never feels as well thought through conceptually as his previous films&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>On to the good news&comma; this features some of Nolan&&num;8217&semi;s most breathtaking sequences he&&num;8217&semi;s ever put to film&period; Along with the clock inspired score from Hans Zimmer&comma; <em>Dunkirk <&sol;em>carefully uses tension to escalate even small moments&period; There&&num;8217&semi;s also something to be said in the way Nolan uses the sense of scale to portray the consequence of the situation&period; With the use of the IMAX cameras&comma; Nolan quite often frames the soldiers as the size of ants on a large scale before bringing the camera down for a smaller&comma; more personal feel to the action&period; In Nolan&&num;8217&semi;s version of war&comma; it&&num;8217&semi;s easy to see the people as smaller pawns on a big field&comma; but put yourself in their shoes and it&&num;8217&semi;s easy to understand why everything will seem like it can end the world&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>There&&num;8217&semi;s a comparison to be made with Terrence Malick&&num;8217&semi;s 1998 war epic&comma; <em>The Thin Red Line&period; <&sol;em>Among both films carry the same thread of beauty of life and tragedy of death&period; For any proof that Malick&&num;8217&semi;s film may have any influence&comma; just look at Nolan&&num;8217&semi;s <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;criterion&period;com&sol;explore&sol;191-christopher-nolan-s-top-10">Top 10 Criterion films<&sol;a>&period; There&&num;8217&semi;s truth in both films testament to the value of life and our choices&period; Characters in either film have to live with the decisions they make&period; They may cost the lives of others and at the end of the day&comma; a person has to decide whether they&&num;8217&semi;re proud enough of what they&&num;8217&semi;ve done to keep going&period; I believe both films arrive near the same conclusion&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;127758" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-127758" style&equals;"width&colon; 960px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2017&sol;07&sol;25134747&sol;MV5BMjQzMjQzMDMxNF5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwOTgyNDY4MjI&percnt;40&period;&lowbar;V1&lowbar;SX1500&lowbar;CR001500999&lowbar;AL&lowbar;-e1501004897800&period;jpg"><img class&equals;"wp-image-127758 size-full" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2017&sol;07&sol;25134747&sol;MV5BMjQzMjQzMDMxNF5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwOTgyNDY4MjI&percnt;40&period;&lowbar;V1&lowbar;SX1500&lowbar;CR001500999&lowbar;AL&lowbar;-e1501004897800&period;jpg" alt&equals;"Dunkirk &lowbar; Two" width&equals;"960" height&equals;"639" &sol;><&sol;a><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-127758" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">&lpar;Dunkirk&comma; Warner Bros&period;&rpar;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>Unlike <em>The Thin Red Line&comma; Dunkirk <&sol;em>has no issues leaving you with very little dialogue&period; Not that much of the former film&&num;8217&semi;s dialogue really meant to move much of the plot forward&period; <em>Dunkirk<&sol;em> manages to run just under two hours with very little of an overarching plot and thin characterization while still feeling compelling&period; The intensity and stakes of the situations portrayed put us in the character&&num;8217&semi;s shoes more than any expository dialogue Nolan would have written ever could&period; It&&num;8217&semi;s rather refreshing to watch a movie do &&num;8220&semi;show&comma; don&&num;8217&semi;t tell&&num;8221&semi; correctly&comma; even though there wouldn&&num;8217&semi;t be a lot to tell in the first place&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>After my second viewing&comma; I couldn&&num;8217&semi;t help but notice that this may be the closest thing Nolan ever makes to a horror film&period; The way he uses water as an unrelenting force of destruction and terror along with the way he shoots the action not just for thrills&comma; but to cement the impending doom that is upon these soldiers&period; <em>Dunkirk <&sol;em>is a film full of depth through the structure and revelations of the storytelling without becoming bogged down in exposition as he&&num;8217&semi;s been accused of in the past&period; Time will tell where his latest fares in his filmography&comma; but on initial viewings&comma; it doesn&&num;8217&semi;t disappoint&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;