Review of Dunkirk (2017) by Art S — 19 Dec 2017

I watched Mrs. Miniver (1942) back in July which also features the evacuation of British soldiers from Dunkirk, France, during WWII. But while the earlier film was a melodramatic piece of wartime propaganda to rally the Allies, Christopher Nolan's current look back is a visceral "you are there" piece of bravura filmmaking that likely also stokes the patriotic home fires in the Brexit-era UK (or perhaps it is meant to remind them of their bonds with Europe?).

No doubt this looked better on the big screen than on the back of the seat in front of me on Qantas Flight 7, but it was still immersive enough. We follow three storylines that intersect at Dunkirk where Allied troops were besieged by the Germans and ultimately evacuated by an armada of private yachts and small boats sailed by civilian volunteers.

The storylines are: 1) A couple of nameless soldiers attempt to escape on a first aid vessel (which is promptly sunk) as bombs drop everywhere on the beach; 2) a pair of pilots shoot down enemy bombers, hoping not to run out of fuel; 3) a father and son (and a local boy who joins them) take their small boat to Dunkirk and rescue a shell-shocked airman on the way.

There is very little dialogue, an immense crowd of extras, and a soundtrack that propels everything forward, sounding not unlike the dropping of bombs. I suspect that without the soundtrack, courtesy of Hans Zimmer, this film, like many others, would lose a lot of its impact.

That said, the meticulous attention to authentic period detail is truly impressive. These elements combined make this a film that could (and probably should) be watched again (on a bigger screen).