DUNKIRK: Nolan defies convention to deliver a unique film experience
Cinema by Jeffrey Martin
Dunkirk is a war film of singular vision. From the mind of Christopher Nolan, director of Inception and The Dark Knight Trilogy, comes a narrative-ambitious war film that covers the rescuing of 400,000 English soldiers from the German forces decimating them on the beaches of Dunkirk. The tension in this film is unnerving and if you don’t feel anything unique after watching it, then maybe movies simply aren’t for you because Dunkirk sinks its hooks into you and stays with you no matter how hard you try to shake it. The score, sound, editing choices and cinematography so evoke the experience of war you’ll be gripped to your seat. You don’t see a single German soldier, but the menace lurks everywhere. Nolan has made the viewer an omniscient character in this film, which may explain why Dunkirk is close to being a great video-game adaptation. If you’re even remotely interested in the movie, go see it while it’s still in theaters: Dunkirk should be seen on the biggest screen possible.
This is one of a few films out there right now that deserves to be seen, because despite the hype and certain conventions, it so breaks the mold that it’s become the centerpiece of cinematic conversation.
As early as the opening scene, the stakes are clear: Hundreds of thousands of soldiers have to be evacuated to ensure the survival of Britain. But the unconventional narrative is what will ultimately divide audiences. The evacuation unfurls in three timelines: “The Mole,” which covers one week of the soldiers like Fionn Whitehead and Harry Styles on land; “The Sea,” a day in the civilian life of Mark Rylance and his crew saving soldiers with their recreational boat; and “The Air,” an hour of Spitfires shooting down planes and Tom Hardy relying exclusively on his eyes to act. Sometimes the triptych intersects, but Nolan isn’t telling a conventional tale here that ties everything into a neat bow. His aim is to hurl you right into the midst of war.
Dunkirk challenges you to experience war rather than feel it as a wholly developed character. You’re enveloped in sound as gunfire and the drone of aircraft attacking the beach hits not only the screen, but you in the process. The Oscar-level editing not only makes sense of the triptych structure, but maintains the suspense of each timeline, even when we jump to different parts of the story in the middle of a scene. And if you’re looking to get to know a character in this film — any character — look elsewhere: Nolan is bent on delivering experience, not characters. You don’t know anything about Cillian Murphy’s background, Kenneth Branagh other than his sense of duty, or how long Whitehead has been serving in the military. Nolan brings together this all-star ensemble just to anchor points of view.
Dunkirk bucks the expectations of those who stand by the traditional three-act screenplay in abandoning it altogether. In so doing it takes you into what a character feels instead of simply feeling for or sympathizing with the characters onscreen. That’s a hefty achievement in itself and something we probably haven’t seen quite so viscerally since Saving Private Ryan. On one level, Dunkirk is a blockbuster/experimental-film pastiche that works as pure experience. On another, it’s the cinematic equivalent of the kind of wings you have to sign a waiver in order to eat. But at its core, this is one of a few films out there right now that deserves to be seen, because despite the hype and certain conventions, it so breaks the mold that it’s become the centerpiece of cinematic conversation.
Jeffrey Martin is The Collective’s cinema critic and you can follow him on Twitter at @jeffthemartin.
