Christopher Nolan returns to cover a real event instead of a hypothetical future he failed to impress me with his poor Astronomical knowledge (aka Interstellar). In this retelling of the Allied evacuation at Dunkirk, his style works and frustrates.
I’ll go with what I loved first. Nolan captures the terror the frightened soldiers feel, the tight spaces on the ships, the horrors of what really happens when a large vessel gets nailed by a torpedo and the reserve the commanding officers have to display in a no-win situation. As you know, Nazi Germany outwitted the Allies (the British and French) and successfully invaded France with the use of paratroopers. Poor Belgium, Luxembourg and Holland got caught in the way too. Desperation is the mood throughout the beach. For some, screw who’s winning, getting home is all that matters.
Here’s what annoyed me. Nolan’s signature of jumping around in time. One moment we see a British officer being rescued by a volunteer’s yacht, then we see the same officer commanding soldier’s rowing out to a hospital ship…forcing the audience to go, oh, that was him hours earlier. It ruins the arc involving the RAF pilots too. I know Dunkirk not a documentary but the story should be linear for I don’t believe it would ruin the narrative nor the drama.
If you can handle the jumping around a la Momento or Tarantino overdoing it, you’ll love the movie. I think it’s great yet I would rather see it again, edited “correctly.” Beyond the style element, Nolan’s regulars are present too: Michael Caine, Cillian Murphy and Tom Hardy. Seeing Kenneth Branagh was a highlight for me.
Alamo Extras: British newsreel showing Berlin at WWII’s end, the UK’s WWI guns and what cameras show when they’re in fighter planes; A 1940 films showcase: Chaplin’s The Dictator, Waterloo Bridge and Hitchcock’s Foreign Correspondent; a list of traits in Nolan movies; and the 11 movies that influenced Dunkirk:
- All Quiet on the Western Front
- Wages of Fear
- Alien
- Speed
- Unstoppable
- Greed (1924)
- Sunrise (1927)
- Ryan’s Daughter
- The Battle of Algiers
- Chariots of Fire
- Foreign Correspondent