World War II ended 72 years ago but has provided fervent material for the cinema ever since. The latest is Dunkirk, Christopher Nolan’s foreboding take on one of the most desperate periods of the war.
Dunkirk (Mark Rylance, Tom Hardy, Cillian Murphy, Kenneth Branaugh, Fionn Whitehead) – The Battle of Dunkirk was all about survival. The Nazis stormed through Europe in the early stages of World War II, trapping the British, Belgian and French troops on the beaches of Dunkirk just a few miles across the English Channel from safety. Dunkirk was almost a massacre. As it was, it was a turkey shoot for the Nazi Luftwaffe as 300,000 troops were largely stranded. Dunkirk the movie tells the intimate stories of the desperate troops, brave British coastal boat owners, and the few pilots whose planes were committed to the evacuation effort.
Dunkirk is not your typical mid-20th century depiction of war (the John Wayne hero film) or even the late 20th century gut-wrenching, blood-and-guts WWII films (think Saving Private Ryan). This film depicts stress at a human level. Rated just PG-13, Dunkirk tells three simultaneous stories of the land, air and sea fight for survival.
The land story focuses on a young soldier trapped in the abandoned town of Dunkirk. Only fate keeps him from a certain death as he escapes the Nazi snipers and gets to the beach where he becomes just one of the mass of abandoned soldiers. The sea story puts you in a family pleasure boat captained by a father (Mark Rylance, Oscar winner for Bridge of Spies) and manned by his two sons who feel the obligation to head across the channel to try to help save the troops. Meanwhile, in the air, we enter the cockpits of two pilots who, with diminishing fuel, go head-to-head with the Nazi pilots trying to keep the air safe for the escaping troops.
Written and directed by three-time Oscar nominee Christopher Nolan (of the Dark Knight Batman movies, Inception, The Prestige, Memento), Dunkirk feels and sounds foreboding. Sparse in dialogue, the film’s music dominates: lots of bassoons, basses, viola, and baritone. There are long stretches of dark music and gunfire. I expect this film’s chances of Oscar nominations are high, particularly for music, sound, cinematography and perhaps direction rather than acting. All of the young actors, especially Fionn Whitehead (who received top billing), are very good but not particularly breakthrough-memorable. The veterans carry the film: Rylance as the brave commoner headed into battle; Cillian Murphy as a rescued sailor in shock; Kenneth Branaugh as the pragmatic commanding officer on the pier; and Tom Hardy (who starred in Nolan’s Dark Knight Rises and Inception) as the fuel-challenged pilot who never gives up.
A darling of the critics (it boasts a 94 Metascore), Dunkirk is very good but I don’t think it would make anyone’s list of the top five World War II films. My son has had enough of WWII films, and I get that. Dunkirk is memorable but not extraordinary in the way that Spielberg’s films, Saving Private Ryan and Schindler’s List, are.
Should you see it? Yes, particularly if you like war films or know the story of Dunkirk. But if you don’t like war movies, I would recommend waiting for the video.