Dunkirk

Filmmakers create films. Auteurs invent experiences.

In Dunkirk, Christopher Nolan mercilessly throws his audiences into a warzone and let them experience what it is like being in the very same situation as the soldiers who are struggling for their lives are involved with. And it is time to savor the horror and poetry of war as commanded!

Based on a triptych pattern, the writer-director distributes the story he wants to tell using three narratives - the mole, the sea and the air, before summing them up into a whole. Just when you think all three sequences are happening simultaneously, you are tricked by the appearance of Cillian Murphy as the Shivering Soldier, who earlier was actually on the shores of Dunkirk with some cadets before ending up on Mr. Dawson's (Mark Rylance) boat. You see how he's well-fed and lit pre-accident compared to the scrawny, shell-shocked look he has at rescue. The same thing can be said about the false impression that Tommy (Fionn Whitehead) is coated in oil and burning in flame, but when you realize it is really another person, you get a delightful surprise out of it. These are Nolan's traits of small illusions which add slight power to the storytelling. Initially, you are unsure what Mr. Dawson, a common man is up to in a dangerous warfare, but when you witness the arrival of 'home' to the army in need, his motivation becomes clear. Little and obvious plot elements like this too can be served as surprises by the one and only Christopher Nolan.

But, what ultimately puts the motion picture in limelight is Nolan's writing for tension! It is mightily impressive how the director has incorporated tensions, thrills and suspense in the script with minimal dialogues and heavy visuals every step of the way! This is the stalwart hooking factor of Dunkirk! Walking on a plank to bring a stretcher across, depleting fuel, water oozing in the boat as holes are increasing, German spy doubt, Collins (Jack Lowden) wanting to escape the jet, torpedo attack, sinking ship, Gibson (Aneurin Barnard) unlocking the door to save Alex (Harry Styles) and Tommy, Farrier's (Tom Hardy) Spitfire that stops spinning, who is sneaking up on the boat, underwater drowning, who is shooting at the boat, space plane battles, bomb drops from above and the first gunshot chase are the instantaneous occurrences that keep you at the edge of circumstances at all times! You are always in the moment! Realism is on a whole new level!

The scenes aforementioned wouldn't have been impactful without the sheer-terrifying sound designs and heart-stopping score! While the former constantly stirs your bloodstream causing palpitations as proceedings unfold, the latter washes it down with adrenaline pumps, elevating your stay here to the motion pictures heaven! You wouldn't have heard such multitude of variations for heartbeats and clock-ticks! A loud sigh of relief is passed once the survival grapple is over! We learn how important is a citizen's responsibility in the midst of combat. We are inspired by the willingness to sacrifice for the greater good.

Hoyte van Hoytema's cinematography is godlike! The scope and imagery are mountainous! A gold standard spectacle! Flight collapsing into sea, line of smoke aligning along the clouds, large tank passing by a small boat, multidimensional shot of fighter planes' bomb drop smattering sand on top of ducking Tommy, planes scouring over vast sea, water explosion on sky, space plane battles and decks of armies by the shore are examples!

Christopher Nolan has done a phenomenal job filming a historical event, and one will indefinitely be riveted by it from start to finish as there are no two ways about it! He has masterfully crafted plus executed the tensions, suspense and thrills! But, what's missing from this feature is characters. Motion pictures or movies are all about characters. The humans present in this celluloid are just figures to escape Dunkirk, all of them. Although we vividly know what is their singular dramatic need and we do follow them on their quest to fulfill it, we do not connect with these individuals on an emotional level, which is the deepest connection one could establish of all. We are given nothing to root for any particular character to compulsorily survive, hence we do not care as much as we should and could. But, the fact that Christopher Nolan is able to engross you for the entire runtime of a film with the absence of characters informs all you need to know about what sort of a genius he is in constructing suspense, thrills, tension, scenes and sequences!

It is clear that Nolan wanted to make a motion picture purely to account the particular event only. But, the key asset that differentiates a documentary and a movie is the inclusion of characters. Characters with a set of attributes, dramatic need and desire. Then again, film is a subjective medium. When Stanley Kubrick once dived his hands into this genre, what we got was the ever brilliant Full Metal Jacket! And Full Metal Jacket isn't a picture with characters or events for that matter. It's a character study on the effects of war on soldiers and the ramifications or changes that come through it. So yes, at the end of the day, film is a subjective medium open to a wide spectrum of interpretations. For the type of film this is, Dunkirk is undoubtedly a terrific piece of work!