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08/03/2017 12:01 AMRated PG-13
Writer/director Christopher Nolan (Inception and The Dark Knight) is well known for his work in film, but one thing for which he’s typically not known is simplicity in his films. With his new film Dunkirk, however, Nolan manages to tell the famous story of the more than 300,000 men who were rescued from the beach at Dunkirk, France in 1940 simply and tastefully.
Of course, it would not be a Christopher Nolan film if there wasn’t some unusual artistic approach, which there is. Dunkirk follows three storylines that occur in overlapping time frames—one that lasts for one week, one that lasts for one day, and another that lasts for one hour.
The story that lasts for one week is that of the British troops who were on the ground in France as the German enemy was surrounding them. At the center of that story is Fionn Whitehead (The Children Act and TV’s Him) as Tommy, the one British soldier who can be most closely considered a main character. His details (like those of all the others) are unknown, but he is a young man who is clearly both very brave and very scared. Early in the film, he comes across another soldier named Gibson (Aneurin Barnard of Cilla and Citadel) who is busily burying a fallen soldier in the sand and the two decide to stick together without any words ever passing between them. They grab a gurney with another wounded soldier on it and together attempt to make their way onto one of the boats waiting to ferry home wounded men.
Over and over, Tommy and Gibson’s attempts to make it to safe passageway home are thwarted as enemy airstrikes sink one British boat after another. The two soldiers eventually join up with another soldier named Alex (Harry Styles of One Direction fame starring in his first role in film) and together with a small group of men, they decide to hole up in a grounded ship, hoping to be able to safely wait out the time until high tide takes the ship out to sea again.
Meanwhile, back in Britain, civilian boats are being taken over by the Navy. Before one local man’s boat is able to be taken over, the amateur sailor/owner of that boat named Mr. Darcy (Mark Rylance of The BFG and Bridge of Spies), his son Peter (Tom Glynn-Carney of The Last Post and Casualty), and a local boy named George (Barry Keoghan of ’71 and Traders) decide they want to help the effort. Theirs is the story that takes place during one day. They take off toward Dunkirk to help retrieve as many soldiers as they can. Soon after they set off, they find a stunned soldier (Cillian Murphy of The Dark Knight and 28 Days Later) floating in the sea who is adamantly against their plan to continue traveling toward the horror he just left behind in Dunkirk.
Attempting to help the men on boats make their way safely across the channel are two Air Force pilots, Collins (Jack Lowden of Denial and England is Mine) and Farrier (Tom Hardy of Mad Max: Fury Road and The Revenant). Theirs is the one hour long story. Viewers watch as the two men dodge bullets from enemy fire, attempt to take down enemy planes, and fly into complete uncertainty.
There is no character development for any of the soldiers. Viewers are never given any background information about their lives before the war or about the families waiting for them back home. All the viewers know is that they’re on the beach with German soldiers advancing on them, desperate to get home. For Dunkirk, noting this lack of character development is not a criticism. It is simply the artful way that Nolan chose to portray the story.
Everything about Dunkirk is done right. Christopher Nolan wrote a script that is historically accurate and directed a film that is somehow simple and tasteful at the very same time that it is powerful and moving. Hans Zimmer handled the soundtrack for Dunkirk and he did a masterful job of it. The music and sound add to the intensity of Nolan’s film. Dunkirk is a spectacular summer blockbuster film without the feel of a blockbuster film.