Movie Review : Dunkirk by Christopher Nolan

Film Review : Dunkirk by Christopher Nolan

Well crafted film may age well,  but lacks grand scale and doesn't live up to the hype

 

There is much to admire about Dunkirk. It is well acted, and with authentic boats and planes looks as realistic as it could do at the intimate scale. And therein lies the problem.

Given that the entire point of Dunkirk was about the rescue of almost 400,000 men, the beaches feel remarkably sparse. Actual historical accounts describe a beach so swarming with men that the sand was barely visible. In Christopher Nolan's film we never feel like we are dealing with more than a few thousand. The film has been touted as relying on extras and real vehicles rather than CGI. Unfortunately, when you are supposed to be depicting  400,000 men, having 5000 extras is not impressive ; it actually means you are down 395,000. Likewise the great civilian fleet that is supposed to be the climax of Dunkirk never actually looks like more than 20 boats. Yet in reality thousands participated ; more than two hundred were lost. The British Navy lost 6 destroyers at Dunkirk, yet such destruction is only hinted at. There were not a few occasional raids by Stukas ; rather on one typical day the Germans bombed in force every 20 minutes for 9 hours, in addition to fighters strafing. This basic math has been lost on Nolan, and the result is a film that forgets it was supposed to be depicting an actual historical event. As a study of how a few men may have fared at a small section of Dunkirk it may be a good film. As a depiction of what happened overall at Dunkirk and its significance it has failed abysmally. All the realism of intimate camerawork and authentic vehicles is lost if the context is unconvincing. I am perplexed by the Oscar buzz and the talk of this being Nolan's best. Perhaps perspective and time will tell.

Likewise fans of Hans Zimmer may be disappointed. It's competent background music that adds to the tension, but the Thin Red Line it ain't. The noise level of the dialogue ( some of which is poor and quite badly delivered, except by Branagh ) can be problematic too. I had trouble sometimes making out what the characters were saying ( and I'm British ). I get that the depiction is of war and in that scenario it would be hard to hear, but this is taking realism to annoying levels or it's just bad editing.

All of this should not detract from the overall craftsmen-ship of Dunkirk. It is well put together, with tight sequences that depict well the almost hopeless plight of men vulnerable to attack even after they have been picked up. Chugging slowly across the Channel in small boats, the men are almost as easily targeted by the Luftwaffe as they were on the beaches. The movie drives home too the threat posed by German submarines. Even when the men are on a ship they are  far from safe, so the tension is well delivered and held throughout.

The timeline structure has been well touted along with the realism,  but it's a simple convergence of three different timelines working at different speeds and meeting ; nothing dramatic or as original as Nolan's Memento.

Though much has been made of Mark Rylance captaining a small civilian vessel, the real star of the film is Fionn Whitehead. He plays a painfully boyish looking Tommy ; most of the film is spent following his eyes as he constantly searches for the next danger and means of escape. Tom Hardy puts in a competent performance, but is out-acted by the Spitfire he pilots. Apparently the cameraman agrees, and some of the nicer sequences follow the graceful British fighter as it winds around the sky.

Some of the camera work, the claustrophobia of boat scenes and the colours of the film will last in memory. So will the frustratingly small scale.

For those wanting a more authentic depiction of the events around Dunkirk, check out BBC2's 3 -part 2004 production Dunkirk, well narrated by Timothy Dalton and starring Benedict Cumberbatch amongst others. If you want an art-house style depiction of war, check out Terence Maliks The Thin Red Line ( 1998 ). Apparently Nolan is a big fan of the Thin Red Line and tried to replicate some of Maliks techniques. Maliks cinematography worked well in the Pacific setting and with poetic voice over narration, but Nolan's attempt falls a little flat with Dunkirk.
 

7/10