Dunkirk

So I managed to sneak in a viewing of Dunkirk on Friday morning before work. Pretty happy with the decision. So far, it's the best film I've seen all year. Most of this is down to Christopher Nolan and his command of time. The way he interweaves the three strands of the plot - the beach, the sea and the air - is sublimely novel. If you're not careful, you may even be a little confused at the overlapping timelines (it took my penny a few minutes to drop). Nolan has played with time as a character before of course, in Memento, Inception and Interstellar but here he takes it one step further. The 'snowball' effect is used for the entire film - each situation is established unfussily, then the crosscutting between the 'theatres' picks up the pace until they merge at a single point. I can't remember seeing an entire film play this way. Many films do it in the final third or so (Nolan himself uses this technique) but the full film!? As a great man once said, "Well, Captain, I've got to admire your balls."

Another refreshing aspect is the dialogue, or specifically, the sparsity of it. Events unfold with only the bare minimum of spoken exposition, with Nolan relying on the vision and our historical knowledge of the Dunkirk retreat to fill in any blanks. The action (?) scenes are horrific and very watery - hydrophobes beware! - and the dread is heightened by Hans Zimmer's screeching score. The frustration of almost getting away only to be turned back or worse is hard to watch, nearly unbearable. But there are a few quiet moments amidst all the carnage. A soldier drops his gun and helmet and dives into the surf, presumably to swim to England, though almost certainly to his death. The 'I'm too tired to give a shit' looks on the faces of those watching is pretty powerful.

On those characters - I liked the fact that many of them were painted as cowards, or more prosaically, real people just trying to survive. Cillian Murphy turning his back to walk away near the end is a masterfully understated piece of film-making. Sentimentality and flag-waving is avoided for the most part, save for one sequence where the civilian flotilla arrives and Kenneth Branagh gets a bit misty-eyed. The actors are roundly fine and the mass of unknowns and extras on the beach was a clever touch by Nolan, freeing the viewer from identifying with a 'name' among the desperate hordes.

The Brexit theme (or a more general fear of the other) is illustrated well in the readiness of some soldiers to abandon the luckless French soldier to a likely death and ultimately, an actual death by drowning. And the Dutch guy? Where did he go? Branagh's commander shows where Nolan stands by making it clear he's "staying for the French".

In all, a fantastic film, in form and story-telling. I should really have seen it on a 70mm IMAX screen, as was intended for audiences. Maybe next time.
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