Dunkirk

 

All great things come to an end.

Christopher Nolan´s portfolio has been unprecedented over the years, and by now, everyone who is even slightly enthousiastic about film making and critique in general can name pretty much all of his major directional works, minus maybe Following(1998) and Insomnia(2002).

After taking a year longer to release his latest, it seems that the momentum of the expectations surrounding Nolan have started to lower a bit. By no means is it a bad film in any aspect, but from what we have seen previously, it's quality is in overall lesser.

Dunkirk is the dramatic and intense adaptation of a miraculous World War II event where Allied forces where surrounded in masses by the Germans, and while doom was lurking over their heads, hundreds of civilian boats from the United Kingdom where able to evacuate and save the soldiers.

Starring a slew of new and veteran actors, Nolan always seems to approach this mixture, and so far it has worked out. From the opening scene of avoiding enemy gunfire and lining up for further orders to the arrival and celebration of a massive evacuation, the camera will show you plenty of different views.

3 subplots seem to be working out here through interconnection as the general direction is of course about the surrounded forces getting trapped and eventually escaping unexpectedly. A young boy hides on a mole while saving privates inbetween, an older man is dedicated towards bringing all of the young men back home by sea, and a young man fights in the skies while later on taking down a bomber, saving many lives.

The cinematography and the soundtrack say much more than the plot and the characters themselves in the picture. Hans Zimmer is once again collaborating, and Dunkirk's soundtrack is another stellar piece of intense instruments building up on the film's beautiful cinematography, which if you ask me is it's best factor.

Fionn Whitehead, Tom Hardy and Mark Rylance must all deal with difficult choices and moral dilemma's as the war rages on on the seas, lands and skies of Dunkirk, otherwise also known in Dutch as Duinkerken, but in reality, filming locations among that main one also included Urk in The Netherlands.

The movie had many amounts of extra's to emphasize the reality and drama of the actual event, plus the explosions, bombardments and shooting seemed to equally reflect on those themes. It's also interesting to note that Nolan consciously decided not to let the Germans appear on screen, as well as keeping dialogue to a bare minimum, which enhanced the pace, and the movie was over before I knew it, which always is a good sign to me.

Dunkirk is a different kind of war movie, which shows defeat in a spectacular way, and although it is inevitable to happen in any war, perhaps the sense of homecoming and retaliation were best seen at the ending, where Winston Churchill delivers a speech and unlike The Dark Knight Rises, makes defeat an emotional victory.

Rating: 8.5