Film of the Week: Dunkirk

When Christopher Nolan is in the director’s chair, you know the film will be spectacular. Dunkirk is no exception. This stunning masterpiece cannot go amiss. Nolan tells the story when hundreds of thousands of men were stranded on Dunkirk beach, awaiting rescue by whoever shall dare the open waters between England and France. Big ships and small boats all braved crossing over to pick up as many people as possible and bring them home safely upon Churchill’s orders.

Accurately depicting what it was like during the historical evacuation, everyone in the cinema was on the edge of their seats, not knowing what’s going to happen next, whether the characters we were following would make it or not. Every time they believed to be heading home, something strikes them back to shore, and all everyone can do is stand on the beach and wait. The film captured the intensity, the adrenaline, and the insane difficulties every soldier was faced with – it’s one phenomenal film. Christopher Nolan has directed the three Batman films, Inception, Interstellar, every film hitting their own specific nail on the head without missing a single hit, however, it’s Dunkirk that holds the crown as being Nolan’s greatest masterpiece yet.

When most films would have tons of dialogue explaining everything, Dunkirk replaces with imagery. All the exposition is explained through the editing, the music, and the acting. By keeping a lot of the film mute only helped the audience feel what it was like on that crazy week.

What was the absolute pinnacle genius decision was overlapping the three perspectives, where instead of having a linear story from the beginning of the week to the end, we’re shown all three stories in one – one week on land, one hour in the air, and one day at sea. For the purposes of the narrative within the film, that non-linear telling helps the audience understand everything that happened, without forgetting anything. There's no doubt in my mind that this film will go down as one of the finest war films in history.

Thanks for reading

Antony Hudson

(TonyHadNouns)