[rating=9.00]
Like going into war itself, audiences are thrown into the middle of Dunkirk without a hand to hold. “You’re here now,” the film seems to state, “catch up or get out of the way.” How similar in feeling it must have been for the men stranded on the beaches of Dunkirk during World War II—nowhere to go, nowhere to hide, and nothing to do but hope for the best.
The best is certainly what you get from writer/director Christopher Nolan, whose worst films are still better than most other movies that get released. 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. And, yes, it’s also his best.
That’s saying quite a bit for a man known for his ambition. The scope of his filmmaking has never been small—even his smallest movies are big on ideas. Taking his vision and applying it to the amazing real life story of Dunkirk is a stunning next step in his career and even further cements his standing as one of the world’s best living directors.
The story of Dunkirk is one of the most remarkable tales from a war filled with remarkable tales. Nearly defeated, British forces retreated to the beaches of Dunkirk in France. Surrounded on all sides by German forces, hundreds of thousands of Allied troops were trapped. Destroyers were sunk. Men were picked off by the German air force as they waited on the beach. It was a dire moment for the British, which even led to the discussion of unconditional surrender. Unable to rescue their men with their own forces, the British navy enlisted the help of its citizens, and hundreds of civilian boats departed from their ports to assist in the rescue effort, all the while dodging dog fighting planes and scooping stranded men from the sea after their ships were torpedoed.
Throughout the chaos of the battle emerged the indefatigable spirit of the British, who rallied around the battle as a sort of marching cry in the remaining years of the war (this idea was explored somewhat in this year’s Their Finest). This is a story less about Britons than it is Britain. In the hundreds of thousands of men stranded on the beach emerged the heart of a nation, and that’s the real story of Dunkirk.
Nolan brilliantly showcases this by not sticking to your typical structure. The film is told out non-linearly, using only the barest of clues to dictate what’s happening to its audience. This creates a beautiful disorientation, forcing the audience piece together the exact chronology of the story themselves. Additionally, we’re not meant to follow any particular character—each character is more of a stand-in for a division of the British military, rather than a fully fleshed out character on their own.
This allows Nolan to keep his focus on the battle itself. As with reality, the story is split into thirds—maritime, air, and the men on the beach. The imagery is stunning, and Dunkirk features some of the most magnificent reenactments ever presented on film. You’ve never been this close to a dog fight before (unless you’ve been in the air force), or this close to a sinking ship, or been this helpless on a beach.
The effect is stunning. Even absent a main character, Dunkirk is a film steeped in humanity. From the will to survive, to endure, to run headlong into enemy territory to rescue those who need it, what emerges is a portrait of humanity unlike anything you’ve ever seen on film. While mostly nameless, the film’s character paint a nuanced picture of the horrors of war and the tenacity of the British spirit despite the obstacles facing them.
Tom Hardy’s pilot is particularly engaging. Despite spending most of the film behind a pilot mask, Hardy emotes beautifully with only his eyes, giving us a full view of the determination of his character as he flies into enemy territory, low on fuel but high on courage. The fleet of civilian craft who came to the rescue of the stranded soldiers is here represented by a trio of Mr. Dawson (Mark Rylance), his son, Peter (Tom Glynn-Carney), and the young George (Barry Keoghan), and serve as stand ins of sorts for the whole of nation.
Though many of the characters go much of the movie without so much as revealing their names, you’ll leave knowing them intimately and, through them, having glimpsed the soul of a nation. Dunkirk is Nolan’s masterwork and it will leave you equally awed and breathless. War films have a new gold standard and filmmaking has been pushed to glorious new heights. Not only is this the best movie of the summer, it may just become the best movie of the year.
Dunkirk is now playing in theaters everywhere.
