Dunkirk is spectacular cinema
A couple of months before "Dunkirk" (2017, UK) was released, director Christopher Nolan reiterated in an interview what has long to be known as the absolute essence of a film: that a film is meant to be seen in the cinema. Nothing, absolutely nothing, really compares to watching a film on the big screen, inside the cold and dark theater, being fully immersed in the distinctive cinematic world while being virtually "shut off" from the outside world, even for just a number of hours. It greatly helps if the film that we're watching provides us with a truly wonderful experience. "Dunkirk" is one more reason for a film to be really experienced inside the cinema.
Regardless of the fact that Nolan shot the film on 70mm, "Dunkirk", simply put, is pure spectacular cinema. Seeing it in another medium would definitely be a lesser experience. To my mind, this is Nolan's best work since the time- and mind-bending "Memento" (and this was way back in 2000, though I did like as well "Following" and "Insomnia"). "Dunkirk" marks the first time that Nolan has ventured into historical territory, telling of a particular chapter in World War II where British, French and other Allied troops were evacuated from the shores of Dunkirk (a small town in the Hauts-de-France region of France) before being completely trapped and defeated by the advancing German forces.
Nolan, who also wrote the screenplay, puts the event from three different perspectives - land, sea and air - with each one having different "durations": the first one occurring during a week;the second for one day;and the third for one hour. As he did in "Following", "Memento" and "Interstellar", Nolan plays with time and space in "Dunkirk" to lend the story an added dimension, in such a manner that challenges our traditional way of viewing things. The three segments seem disparate and may disorient the audience at first, but through Nolan's skillful orchestration of events onscreen they little by little coalesce into a riveting whole towards the end.
Not that each individual frame isn't riveting in itself. On the contrary. If other war movies give ample time to provide dramatic background to the men in the battlefield and have them interact with fellow soldiers to tell their own little stories (for example, Steven Spielberg's "Saving Private Ryan", Clint Eastwood's "Letters from Iwo Jima" and Mel Gibson's "Hacksaw Ridge"), "Dunkirk" thrusts the audience immediately into the intensity of the action, starting with the opening scene where a small group of young soldiers scouting through an abandoned town is attacked by bullets from all sides, all of whom are unable to survive except for one (Fionn Whitehead) who manages to run towards the beach of Dunkirk where he sees a whole army of fellow soldiers waiting to be evacuated. Nolan's primary concern here is the survival of the characters in the midst of extreme situations. The fact is "Dunkirk" isn't about victory over enemy troops for the love and honor of one's respective country;rather, it's about retreat from the battle in order to save more lives. In this instance, the enemy may have defeated the Allied troops strategically, but they want to ensure that the triumph of the spirit at least remains.
What makes our viewing experience purely cinematic is that most of the spectacular setpieces are presented onscreen with little dialogue, with the filmmaker relying on the build up of details to create tension and conflict, accompanied by Hans Zimmer's startling score (which, in itself, already tells the story). If a character gets to speak at all, it's rarely intelligible either because of thick accent or because of the overwhelming sound of bullets, bombs and other external attacks. Even without the presence of blood and gore (unlike in the Spielberg and Gibson movies), the images are still visceral, powerful, arresting and moving, thanks to the director's confident mastery of the medium. And similar to Ridley Scott's Somalia-set "Black Hawk Down", despite the presence of A-list actors here like Tom Hardy (a fighter pilot), Cillian Murphy (a rescued soldier) and Kenneth Branagh (a commander), they aren't really made to be highlighted as celebrities in the film. Instead, they become part of the entire mass of soldiers simply doing their best to survive. The beauty of "Dunkirk" lies in how it's able to celebrate small acts of heroism in the midst of a massive-scale destruction, in how humanism still shines through the spectacular imagery.
(Soldiers leave in order to live in Christopher Nolan's "Dunkirk")
Regardless of the fact that Nolan shot the film on 70mm, "Dunkirk", simply put, is pure spectacular cinema. Seeing it in another medium would definitely be a lesser experience. To my mind, this is Nolan's best work since the time- and mind-bending "Memento" (and this was way back in 2000, though I did like as well "Following" and "Insomnia"). "Dunkirk" marks the first time that Nolan has ventured into historical territory, telling of a particular chapter in World War II where British, French and other Allied troops were evacuated from the shores of Dunkirk (a small town in the Hauts-de-France region of France) before being completely trapped and defeated by the advancing German forces.
Nolan, who also wrote the screenplay, puts the event from three different perspectives - land, sea and air - with each one having different "durations": the first one occurring during a week;the second for one day;and the third for one hour. As he did in "Following", "Memento" and "Interstellar", Nolan plays with time and space in "Dunkirk" to lend the story an added dimension, in such a manner that challenges our traditional way of viewing things. The three segments seem disparate and may disorient the audience at first, but through Nolan's skillful orchestration of events onscreen they little by little coalesce into a riveting whole towards the end.
Not that each individual frame isn't riveting in itself. On the contrary. If other war movies give ample time to provide dramatic background to the men in the battlefield and have them interact with fellow soldiers to tell their own little stories (for example, Steven Spielberg's "Saving Private Ryan", Clint Eastwood's "Letters from Iwo Jima" and Mel Gibson's "Hacksaw Ridge"), "Dunkirk" thrusts the audience immediately into the intensity of the action, starting with the opening scene where a small group of young soldiers scouting through an abandoned town is attacked by bullets from all sides, all of whom are unable to survive except for one (Fionn Whitehead) who manages to run towards the beach of Dunkirk where he sees a whole army of fellow soldiers waiting to be evacuated. Nolan's primary concern here is the survival of the characters in the midst of extreme situations. The fact is "Dunkirk" isn't about victory over enemy troops for the love and honor of one's respective country;rather, it's about retreat from the battle in order to save more lives. In this instance, the enemy may have defeated the Allied troops strategically, but they want to ensure that the triumph of the spirit at least remains.
What makes our viewing experience purely cinematic is that most of the spectacular setpieces are presented onscreen with little dialogue, with the filmmaker relying on the build up of details to create tension and conflict, accompanied by Hans Zimmer's startling score (which, in itself, already tells the story). If a character gets to speak at all, it's rarely intelligible either because of thick accent or because of the overwhelming sound of bullets, bombs and other external attacks. Even without the presence of blood and gore (unlike in the Spielberg and Gibson movies), the images are still visceral, powerful, arresting and moving, thanks to the director's confident mastery of the medium. And similar to Ridley Scott's Somalia-set "Black Hawk Down", despite the presence of A-list actors here like Tom Hardy (a fighter pilot), Cillian Murphy (a rescued soldier) and Kenneth Branagh (a commander), they aren't really made to be highlighted as celebrities in the film. Instead, they become part of the entire mass of soldiers simply doing their best to survive. The beauty of "Dunkirk" lies in how it's able to celebrate small acts of heroism in the midst of a massive-scale destruction, in how humanism still shines through the spectacular imagery.
(Soldiers leave in order to live in Christopher Nolan's "Dunkirk")
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