Review of Dunkirk (2017) by Myrtha W — 23 Jan 2018

It is a beautifully made film. It shows a particular historical event in as much intricacy as possible. It is gripping and intense as all of Nolan's projects are, but it seems to be missing something.

To me, the whole does not seem to equal the sum of its parts. Despite a valiant effort, the human element felt somewhat lacking. Also, the overlapping time frames were not as clear as they could be. I was able to follow, but my parents were confused and needed more information. Perhaps Nolan tried to do too much at once, but I was left with the impression of having watched something interesting and clever but largely hollow (which is a feeling that I get from much of Nolan's work). Perhaps I just don't get it or am unable to connect to Nolan's films for some reason. It isn't that I think they are bad. I loved The Prestige and The Dark Knight, and I quite liked Dunkirk and Inception and Memento, but they all strike me as somewhat soulless. They are clever, interesting, and thrilling, but they lack warmth. For most of the films this works, but for a war film about how the regular people band together to pull of a great feat of courage, tactics, and humanity the lack of warmth looms greater and is more of a problem. Helping one's fellow man should be something that brings people together, but Dunkirk offers very little sense of cohesion and collective struggle.

All war films are propaganda to some extent, but this one feels like it doesn't know either how to do that or to not do that. It seems to want to show the war how it was in all of its grey areas and confusion but also to celebrate Great Britain and the Spirit of Dunkirk, to have its cake an eat it too. It seems to want to be both objective and subjective, and instead of doing wither credibly, it somewhat flounders in the middle.

Perhaps in a few years I will rewatch it and the individualistic, every-man-for himself nature of the film will seem less overwhelming, but at the moment this film feels to me like a solid and valiant effort but something of a lost opportunity.