'Heroism and Self-Sacrifice' on Cinematic Display in WWII Epic 'Dunkirk'

Troops wade through the sea toward a rescue boat as 338,000 men were rescued from the beaches in Operation Dynamo
Troops wade through the sea toward a rescue boat as 338,000 men were rescued from the beaches in Operation Dynamo
Author

22 July, 2017

The Warner Bros. release has a price tag of $150 million. Pictures shows Fionn Whitehead in a scene from "Dunkirk".

It runs a bit shorter than the typical "war" movie.

There are no brothers in arms, no flashbacks to simpler times and pretty wives and girlfriends left behind, no old men in situation rooms pontificating about politics or helping with exposition.

It's a stunningly immersive survival film told in 106 thrillingly realized minutes. Oscar victor Mark Rylance is our entree into what was known as Operation Dynamo, as his Mr. Anderson sails his small wooden yacht across the English Channel and into the line of fire.

I've never experienced anything quite like "Dunkirk's" intoxicating immediacy. That's where Dunkirk sneaks up on you.

Propaganda flyers float down to the ground reminding the soldiers of something they're already well aware of - that they're surrounded.

On the water, Mark Rylance, has been commandeered a boat by the Navy, in order that he might help in the evacuation efforts. His part is almost silent, his motivations unknown. They're just soldiers, or sailors, or airmen. fellow evacuees of a recently overtaken France. We have come to expect great things from him. He's the unluckiest lucky fellow out there.

The cast are uniformly excellent, from the heroic pier-master Commander Bolton (Kenneth Branagh), who will not leave France until every man is safely off the beach, to Harry Styles as Private Alex, cast when Nolan was allegedly unaware of his pop stardom.

In the air there are the two Spitfire pilots, Farrier (played by Tom Hardy, whose face is once again largely obscured but who can act circles around many of his contemporaries even with just the use of his eyes and eyebrows) and Collins (Jack Lowden). "You're here now", the film seems to state, "catch up or get out of the way". Instead, what's become known as "the miracle of Dunkirk" took place, as by sheer force of will and collective courage, Britain returned close to 340,000 soldiers home to England - men who would go on to play a part in the eventual reversal of the war.

The knock that the film underplays the role of the French and Dutch has some merit, though focusing on one force in the evacuation probably makes for a stronger narrative.

These narratives intertwine and loop back and repeat from different vantage points with stunning effectiveness - never seeming redundant or tiresome. When people try to talk, they're often drowned out by the rat-a-tat of gunfire or by a Hans Zimmer score hell-bent on amplifying the throb of a ship's pistons, the scream of diving bombers.

Sure, the attempt to survive an nearly impossibly Hellish scenario should be something that just about any human being can relate to on a primal level, but in writing most of the characters as total blank slates, it's also likely to prevent many viewers, especially more casual cinemagoers, from getting fully emotionally involved in what's going on. Nolan has made his career as a risky, experimental filmmaker working within the confines of the Hollywood system, and Dunkirk is his boldest, most experimental film to date.

I walked out of the IMAX theater for "Dunkirk" and didn't know what to think.


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