Review of Dunkirk (2017) by Martin D G — 20 Jul 2017

"Wings" won the first Best Picture Oscar in 1929 and since then 16 other war movies have been honored with that award. I have never been a fan of the genre, in fact missed seeing "Braveheart" and the 3 war themed movies that Clint Eastward made plus skipping the Oscar winning "The Hurt Locker" so I approached "Dunkirk' skeptically hearing excellent word of month.

Christopher Nolan is a better director than screenplay writer. There are a lot of intense war scenes including some that will have you on the edge of your seat but emotionally you don't become involved with the few characters he does concentrate on. In most cases very few have names, no or very little background. As an example in one scene a young man you get to know briefly dies and you sort of shrug your soldiers.

The cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema offers many haunting, striking images while the music by Hans Zimmer sometimes adds to the horror of war while at other times distracts from the sounds of war that have a rhythm of its own.

Nolan intertwines 3 story lines at first dividing them calling the first part "The Mole" representing the war on land as we follow Fion Whitehead and takes place over a week, part two is a day at sea as we join civilian Mark Rylance, his teenage son Tom Glynn-Carney and the latter's friend Barry Keoghan along with a soldier they rescue from the sea Cillian Murphy while the third is an hour in the air seen through the eyes of pilot Tom Hardy. The director/screenwriter goes back and forth between the different parts and times and though it may add to the film it really isn't necessary to give the time most thought.

Many people under 50 may not know the story of what happened at Dunkirk and they might not quite follow what it is all about but no matter what age you have seen the horrors of war before.

In 106 minutes "Dunkirk" moves quickly and while it doesn't get boring, neither does it get you involved to feel what victory or defeat meant in the case of this particular epic part of World War 2.

I will probably be proven wrong but I don't believe it is Oscar worthy!