Dunkirk: Perhaps the Greatest Film of All Time. Period.

Christopher Nolan’s new war epic will bring forth joy, hope, fear and utter sadness — a cinematography tour de force

Ecnar
Ecnar
Jul 24, 2017 · 4 min read
Dunkirk (2017)

Just…wow. It’s difficult to appropriately and adequately describe the feeling you have upon leaving Christopher Nolan’s new war epic: Dunkirk. It’s an incredible state of conflict, where you find yourself jumping back and forth between feelings of joy, hope, fear and utter sadness.

What did we just witness? Was that the greatest war film of all time? Perhaps the greatest film of all time?

The Plot

Dunkirk captures one of history’s most infamous and important events. In May 1940, Germany advanced into France (after sneakily transporting the brunt force of their Panzer divisions through the Argon Forest, an incredible tactical accomplishment thought not to be possible — not in the movie, but an important historical point), trapping nearly 400,000 Allied troops on the beaches of Dunkirk. 25 miles from mainland England, the stranded troops are forced into survival mode as they await rescue, which eventually arrives in the form of the average boat-owning U.K. citizen.

Dunkirk is ingeniously broken up into three beautifully intertwined story lines, named for the location each takes place:

· The Mole (a Dunkirk pier): follows a group of young English soldiers as they fight for survival against advancing German ground troops, devastating bombing runs and U2 surprise attacks. Takes place over a week.

· The Sea: follows a small sailing vessel manned by a father/son combo motivated to save as many English lives as possible through a daring rescue at Dunkirk. Takes place over a day.

· The Air: follows a small squadron of British Spitfire pilots as they race towards Dunkirk and pick off enemy bombers. The lead pilot is played by Tom Hardy. Takes place over an hour.

Our Take

What Nolan accomplishes with minimal dialogue is astounding. Through score, expressive acting and incredible effects, the frightening tone and pace of Dunkirk stands apart from anything we have seen before. The outcome is not simply a fantastic war movie, but an artistic masterpiece that competes on a much larger scale.

The historical accuracy and realism, with a focus on the plight of the individual soldier, gives Dunkirk a level of depth that is rarely delivered in a movie of this scope. We are most blown away by how Nolan weaves together 3 stories that occur over significantly different timelines. This is expertly crafted and arguably the most successful use of time to drive plot in film history. It’s not apparent at first what you are witnessing, but once you realize how everything fits in together, you’ll be blown away.

Tom Hardy in Dunkirk (2017)

While we don’t want to spoil too much of the movie, we would like to highlight one aspect that was just plain incredible. The scenes within Hardy’s Spitfire cockpit are some of the most intense and emotion-inducing of all time. Not to mention the fact that Hardy was in a real-life Spitfire for most of the filming. His compelling story leaves you with tears in your eyes, and an expanded respect for the RAF and all the good they did during WWII.


You will read reviews saying how Dunkirk is confusing or even that the plot is haphazard. Those reviewers are absolute morons who blatantly misclassify the film due to complete ignorance of history. For instance, if you can’t grasp the beauty of the aerial scenes, and say it was hard to follow because Hardy was wearing a mask, you’re a god damn fool.

This is central issue with many reviewers, they simply don’t know what the hell their talking about and try to pass across subjective ignorance as objective expertise.

Trailer:

Anyways, go see Dunkirk. It is without a doubt the best war film of all time and certainly a much better experience in theaters and IMAX.


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Ecnar

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