DUNKIRK

A film review by Aryan Victor

Dunkirk is a film made by Christopher Nolan and stars Damien Bonnard , Tom Hardy , Harry Styles , Cillian Murphy and other loads of actors . Dunkirk is the first attempt of Nolan to portray a war film , previously he has created masterpieces such as Inception , Interstellar , The Dark Knight and many more  . A Score provided by Hanz Zimmer engulfs the movie in a state of paranoia and brings a sense of urgency with it . Dunkirk has a run time of  1hr and 46 mins and despite of being a war film it is still rated PG-13.

Dunkirk is a film about the battle of Dunkirk that took place during world war II where British , French and Belgian soldiers were stranded by the German soldiers to the shores of Dunkirk . The film focuses on the massive evacuation of soldiers that took place where civilians took matters in their own hands and helped in the evacuation process by taking their personal ferries/boats and carrying the soldiers back to where they belong . Although the battle of Dunkirk was a failure where many lost their lives it is still hailed as the greatest evacuation where many lives were saved too . The soldiers were at every second at the danger of getting demolished by the Germans and the story is about how they got saved .

Unlike other war movies Dunkirk does not have any build up as in the first shot of the film we are thrown amidst the ongoing battle . We in the film are introduced to a few characters quickly and then we are put instantly amidst the battle taking place and it never stops or creates a dull moment , there is a look of survival on the faces of the characters as they are gazing in the face of death directly . The dialogue in the film is used very sparingly and hardly between the soldiers of the land as they have been shell-shocked by the events that have taken place where they’ve seen more death than they ever would in their whole lifetime . The film grasps the concept that when someone is in such a situation , there is no time for them to have social conversations or make any small talk . This film can be summed up by saying that this whole movie is in the moment where we as an audience are put in the shoes of these soldiers.

The film does not showcase exaggerated sounds or editing or go to show the horrors of war but takes a more realistic approach in showcasing the event . There is no loud bombs , we can hear the sand fall on the soldiers and distance is taken into consideration as we see in the film .  Like most of Nolan’s filmography Dunkirk too follows a non linear way of storytelling where it does not detract from the actual story but is used to enhance it. In the film the emotions does not come to us audience by the means of the character but by seeing the whole spectacle that it is . The aerial fights between the character of tom hardy and the German are especially great as tom hardy again proves his acting  as yet again again he is able to show a plethora of emotions just through his eyes as he faces various situations and has to take certain decisions such as his fuel indicator getting damaged where he has to keep tabs on the fuel time to time .

The film was shot on real locations and uses real sounds , the gunfire looks real , the planes does not blow up like they do in films creating huge blasted from where the hero walks out of . Dunkirk was shot on an IMAX camera specially to show the vivid crowds and provide depth and hence the experience of this film in an IMAX theatre is hypnotic . The sound track provided by Hanz Zimmer is simply extraordinary as it gets the emotions of the characters and captures the uneasiness and emotions of the soldiers in the facing potential death . The score is like a ticking time bomb which captures the importance of  survival as each and every second is a very important moment in the lives of these soldiers and matters a lot to them.

Although there is no gore or flying limbs all around as the film is rated PG-13 but it is the psychological impact on these characters that makes this movie frightening and worthwhile as it shows desperation as these soldiers cannot wait to get out of that situation . The civilians who go out to help these soldiers are also fleshed out properly where we can get behind their actions knowing why they are doing so . Dunkirk is a film which does not delve in a character to deeply which can be looked in a positive light as Dunkirk is all about War and how terrifying the realities of war can be where they might not be any happy ending .