MOVIE REVIEW
QUENTIN Tarantino fan Greg Thorp has been a film enthusiast from a very young age – one of his all-time top picks is Spielberg’s classic ET, which he describes as his ‘favourite childhood adventure’. Greg lives in Rawtenstall. Email him with your comments and observations at: gregthorpreviews@gmail.com Dunkirk: 12A, 106 mins Starring: Tom Hardy, Cillian Murphy, Mark Rylance, Fionn Whitehead, Harry Styles Rating: 5/5 Director: Christopher Nolan DUNKIRK is an ambitious, momentous piece of film, masterfully crafted by director Chris- topher Nolan. The result is an unconventional but brilliant war film which has firmly cemented itself in my top 10 favourite films of all time.
This film tells the story of the evacuation of 400,000 allied soldiers who were stranded on the beaches of France during WW2. Cut off and surrounded by the advancing German army and with only days to retreat back home; home came to them.
Unlike other waroriented films like ‘Saving Private Ryan’ and ‘Hacksaw Ridge’, Dunkirk chooses to focus less on blood-soaked action scenes and more on the human response to war and how we might deal with the horror of our own impending death.
The use of sound is hugely effective with moments of eerie silence being violently broken by walls of noise which forcibly press you into your seat. This is intensified by Hans Zimmer’s immense score which truly reflects the suspense in this feature. The film holds a constant metronomic ticking which acts as a time bomb and is a metaphor for the advancing German army.
Among all the sound there is a quietness to the film too. There can’t be more than a few pages of dialogue scattered within its 106 minute run time. As such, the back-stories we might expect to be laid out neatly for us are absent. This was a bold decision as it could have created a lack of character knowledge and care for them. This didn’t bother me in the slightest. There were no sentimental tales of home, no contrived flash-backs, just terrified young men rendered speechless by the immensity of war.
The cast, consisting of largely unknown actors, do well with the little dialogue they have, forced to reach deep within themselves for raw, spell-binding emotion. The more experienced cast members provide very memorable performances in their respective roles with Tom Hardy and Kenneth Branagh at the forefront.
As with Nolan’s other films, time is a crucial element and is featured greatly. This films follows three perspectives, land, sea and air and each one unfolds at different rates (one week, one day and one hour).
Upon a first viewing this structure can cause moments of passing confusion. On a few occasions I was curious whether I was watching a new event or a familiar one from another angle. This is forgivable for the greater effect it has on the plot in the form of an anxiety-builder as the three perspectives slowly begin to overlap and collide.
The whole movie is a breathtaking watch with every frame artfully constructed. The format creates a towering and frequently overwhelming experience which is only improved by the brilliant cast. It truly portrays terror in its thunderous scenes of conflict whilst, at the same time, showing us acts of decency and bravery that turn a ‘colossal military disaster’ and inglorious defeat into a victory for the viewer.