Dunkirk (2017) — War. War never changes.
We all expected from the Christopher Nolan nothing else than a masterpiece. And he nailed it. Again.
Dunkirk is a war film based on a true story of the Operation Dynamo. The goal of the Operation Dynamo was to evacuate Allied soldiers from Dunkirk in June 1940 which was surrounded by German Army. That event is also known as Miracle of Dunkirk.
The plot of the movie carefully reproduces the events of those days with great attention to detail. The script is very well developed and has no plot holes. There are no flashbacks or flashforwards. The narration is linear and all the scenes are shown in the correct order. The film does not fill the viewers with unanswered questions. The difficult situation in which soldiers are is extremely clear and understandable. We can only empathize with the characters of the film and wonder how their fate will turn out. The events are shown from three perspectives: the land, the sea, and the sky. The story is completely focused on Allied soldiers who are desperately trying to evacuate from the mainland under the onslaught of superior enemy forces. There is no single German soldier shown in the whole movie. No German tanks, no German warships and no U-Boats. We only see German aircraft sowing death over the coast and sinking Allied destroyer-ships. A very tense atmosphere is complemented by the soundtrack of the Hans Zimmer. Great action scenes and visuals together with good acting complete this epic war masterpiece.
Some people are already whining that Dunkirk is not about glorious battles of Second World War but is about cowards waiting on the beach for the ship to escape from the war. That is not true. The decision to evacuate troops from the territory surrounded by the enemy was a strategically correct move at that stage of the war. At a time when the Churchill himself hoped that it would be possible to extract about 30,000 soldiers from the beaches of Dunkirk — 338000 were saved. The film shows the heroic actions by British pilots who provided air support during the evacuation at the cost of their own lives. And the heroic actions of the civilians who came to the rescue in small trading and fishing vessels. Nolan’s silver screen version of the Miracle of Dunkirk came out as the thrilling drama like the real events happened 77 years ago. I can’t compare it with Saving Private Ryan or any other critically acclaimed films in the setting of Second World War. It is unique and one of a kind.