Dunkirk (2017)

• Year: 2017
• Released: 21 Jul 2017
• Country: United Kingdom, Netherlands, France, United States
• Adwords: Won 3 Oscars. 65 wins & 235 nominations total
• IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5013056/
• Rotten Tomatoes: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/dunkirk
• Metacritics: https://www.metacritic.com/movie/dunkirk
• Available in: 720p, 1080p, 2160p
• Language: English, French, German
• MPA Rating: PG-13
• Genre: Action, Drama, History
• Runtime: 106 min
• Writer: Christopher Nolan
• Director: Christopher Nolan
• Cast: Fionn Whitehead, Barry Keoghan, Mark Rylance
• Keywords: based on true story, based on a true story, world war ii, survival, 1940s,

	7.8/10
	94/100
	60% – Critics
	71% – Audience

Dunkirk Storyline

World War II. The enemy forces have cornered four hundred thousand British and French soldiers on the French coast at Dunkirk. A small number of primarily-French soldiers are guarding the perimeter, where the British and French soldiers are amassed, which is getting increasingly smaller as enemy forces advance. Most of those British and French soldiers are now on the beach waiting for destroyers to come and take them back to Britain. Each of the countries are taking care of their own. The British are leaving first and among those the wounded get first priority despite their taking up seven times the space of the able-bodied soldiers. An issue with Dunkirk is that there is only one dock the destroyers can access, which needs to be protected from the enemy bombs. As such, Churchill, newly elected, has put out a call for civilian watercraft to head to Dunkirk both to transport supplies and to transport soldiers from the beach to the destroyers or back to Britain if at all possible. Within this situation, four general stories are told. In one, Commander Bolton, the top British Naval officer on the ground, knows deep in his heart that the soldiers are largely sitting ducks on the beach as the enemy planes fly over. He knows that the situation is a catch-22 for the British in that they need to bring as many soldiers safely home as possible at the depletion of their military resources, which in turn they need to preserve for the day if, but more likely when, the enemies make their way onto British soil. In the second story, a squadron of three Royal Air Force Spitfires are amongst those limited air resources that are embarking in dog fights with enemy planes, while protecting the soldiers on the ground. In the process, they have to ensure their own safety in order to provide what is needed for the ground soldiers, which includes knowing about things like fuel levels and having enough to make their way back to home base whenever required. In the third story, two soldiers meet on the beach, the two of them knowing that the longer they remain on the beach, the likelier they are not to survive this skirmish. As such, they try to do whatever they need to to make it onto one of those destroyers or any other watercraft making its way back to Britain. However, making it aboard a ship does not necessarily ensure their survival, and in the final story, Mr. Dawson, his young-adult son Peter, and their seventeen-year-old friend George are on Dawson’s pleasure craft making its way to Dunkirk to do their part in the war effort, all realizing the dangers involved. They have to decide at each step along the way if they will focus on personal problems or if they will continue on to assist in the war, as was their first priority when they left Britain.

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Dunkirk Movie Reviews

A tough, tough film to watch…and an amazing film was well.

Before you decide to watch “Dunkirk” I have a bit of a warning. While you would expect death and blood in a war film, some of the scenes in the film are amazingly tough to watch. There’s actually very little blood, but there are some drowning scenes which are intense and awful. Now I am not saying don’t watch it…just be prepared.

The story is a retelling of the escape of the British* from the beaches of Dunkirk. The German army was coming and the combined British and French forces were trapped with little apparent chance to escape. And, as an army of over 300,000 Brits dug in and waited, the Luftwaffe began chipping away at them….and ultimately would have killed and/or captured them all if it wasn’t for a rag-tag flotilla of private boats which hastily arrived and spirited away about 80-90% of the men.

By the way, early in the film you hear someone speaking to the pilot (Tom Hardy) over the radio. The voice is that of Michael Caine….an odd and brief cameo.

The story is gripping, well told and brilliant. I have only one complaint, and I am surprised it made it to the film considering how amazing a director Christopher Nolan is. At one point, the scene switches between some men in a boat being attacked and a private yacht rescuing downed pilots. The scenes kept switching back and forth….but one was clearly at night and the other clearly was in daylight. This really didn’t make any sense. Still, otherwise an amazing spectacle…a truly amazing war film.

One of the most disastrous events in British wartime history depicted in a less than triumphant but hardly disastrous film

Christopher Nolan has always struck me as a very talented film-maker, and most of his films are ones that have impressed me a lot. Even weaker efforts, where his ambition can get in the way, have a good deal to admire. His films are all impeccably crafted technically, and often entertaining and thought-provoking, also knowing how to get good performances out of talented casts.

‘Dunkirk’ had me interested in it from the get go. Not just because Nolan was the director, though he is to me one of the “appreciated” directors than a personal favourite, and, while all his films range from decent to outstanding, again from personal opinion only ‘Memento’ is a film without faults, so like him and his films but don’t consider them the best thing since sliced bread. There was also the involvement of Hans Zimmer, who has penned some great scores (both in his collaborations with Nolan, being a regular, and elsewhere) and a cast that includes Mark Rylance, Kenneth Branagh, Tom Hardy and Cillian Murphy. Plus ‘Dunkirk’ was based off one of the most disastrous events in British wartime history, actually cited by Winston Churchill as “a colossal military disaster”.

Seeing ‘Dunkirk’, after hearing a lot of acclaim but also a lot of divisive opinions on both sides, there was a lot to admire about ‘Dunkirk’ but, although it is a visual, technical, audio and directorial masterpiece, it is not the triumph of film-making it could have been. As far as Nolan’s films go for me it’s a lesser effort, meaning often impressive but flawed where ambition gets in the way of execution, feel exactly the same way about ‘Interstellar’ which has similar strengths and flaws to ‘Dunkirk’. Personally do feel strongly that regardless of how disappointing it would have been to others it is a long way from a 1/10 film, even if the film didn’t do much for me it would have gotten a 4 at least from me.

Let’s start with the strengths first. First off, ‘Dunkirk’ looks amazing, so far being one of the best-looking films of the year. Very evocatively designed, atmospherically lit and the cinematography is dazzling with some grit but also some audaciousness. Nolan’s direction is often superb, especially in the very visceral spectacle, and on an audio level it is just as big a triumph. The sound is constant but didn’t bother me, coming from somebody who can have hyper-sensitive hearing but is used to loud noises and high volume (necessary for the experience) when going to the cinema. If anything it added to the authenticity.

Hans Zimmer’s score has garnered a lot of praise, acclaimed from most in part, but has had some dissenting opinions. Count me in as someone who loved it, there is an ominous quality but also a pathos and rousing bombast that enhances the pulsating heart-beat.

The action is often enthralling, and there is some nerve-shredding tension and some heart-wrenching emotional pathos (like in Cillian Murphy’s performance). Loved the performances as well, the best coming from a quietly dignified and understated Mark Rylance who can say little and still speak volumes with just a small gesture, his eyes and his facial expressions. Kenneth Branagh’s role is not a large one but he does make much of it. Nolan regulars Tom Hardy and Cillian Murphy command the screen effortlessly, Murphy’s shell-shocked soldier in particular is genuinely moving. Was absolutely shocked in a good way at how good Fionn Whitehead’s and Harry Styles (on paper an insane casting choice) feature film debuts were.

On the other hand, what makes ‘Dunkirk’ less than triumphant is that the characterisation, writing and story are on the messy side. Didn’t mind the minimal dialogue and understood completely why it was done, did mind that the characters were underdeveloped and severely lacking in depth, one never gets to know them which is a shame because the acting is so good.

‘Dunkirk’ has been criticised for being emotionally cold and not getting enough into the horrors of war. Do agree with those criticisms actually. There are times actually where both actually come through, there is tension and suspense, there are some harrowing moments and some poignant ones, but we don’t want moments, we want consistency. ‘Dunkirk’ is not horrifying or gut-wrenching enough (for war films it is fairly tame) and does lack consistent emotional investment.

Nolan could have done more with the historical side of things, it is a good thing that a good deal of people here have knowledge of the event but it can’t be assumed that everybody knows about it or all the facts, nobody expects a history lesson but there was a missed opportunity in this regard. While being a technical and visual masterpiece, some of the editing is chaotic in places, as an epileptic it was just about bearable but still felt too much even for what it was trying to do. Lastly, while having a non-linear structure is not a bad thing (Nolan did it with ‘Memento’ and masterfully) how the three stories were told did get confused at times and it was hard keeping up with the constant back and forth.

So overall, less than triumphant but hardly disastrous. Often impressive but problematic. 6.5-7/10 Bethany Cox

The Citizens Mobilize

Dunkirk played a small part of that classic from the World War II years Mrs. Miniver. If you remember Walter Pidgeon took his small craft out and said he would be returning the next day. You then see his boat joining other small craft and then there’s an armada of them heading down the Thames and out to sea. They were heading for Dunkirk and were going right up to the beaches where the large naval vessels couldn’t go and taking several hundred thousand British soldiers and a few French who later became the basis for the Free French army headed by Charles DeGaulle.

There’s’s mention here of Winston Churchill and Sir Bertram Ramsey whom I believe was First Sea Lord. The only criticism I have of Dunkirk is that I would like to have had some scenes with the top decision makers as we saw in such films as Patton, MacArthur, The Longest Day, the Battle Of Britain, and others. Especially in The Longest Day we saw the ordinary soldiers and their story mixed with the brass and the critical decisions they were making.

On the plus side Dunkirk is a film wonderfully cast with several poignant stories about what was being done and the sacrifices made. My favorite is that of young Barry Keoghan all of 17 who comes on the small craft of Tom Rylance and his son Tom Glynn-Carney just to be part of a great adventure. His performance will bring a few tears to the eye. Of all in the film I hope young Mr. Keoghan will get some notice for a Supporting Actor Oscar.

No doubt Dunkirk is in line for some technical awards as well in addition to the big one. With 10 now in the race for Best Picture I have no doubt that Dunkirk will be one of the ten.

I’ve always loved the story of Dunkirk and how that island nation put aside its differences among the subjects and worked together to get that army off the beach. Make no mistake this was citizen mobilization at its finest. No matter what your views were unless you were an out and out Nazi sympathizer you knew what getting those troops home meant.

Nothing less than the fate of civilization itself.