Rating of
3.5/4
"Dunkirk" by Yojimbo
Yojimbo - wrote on 02/03/19
The German invasion force of World War II has pushed the entire British army back to the sea where, under heavy bombardment, they must await rescue by a flotilla of civilian pleasure craft crossing the English Channel.
Christopher Nolan’s take on the events of the Second World War is a very personal journey of individuals caught up in world-changing events beyond their control. The story is told by land, sea and air as the lives of various civilian and fighting men intersect at a crucial juncture which went on to shape history. Nolan eschews using his typical twist-based plot devices, instead placing the viewer in the thick of it using a clever Rashomon-style overlapping timeline that shows the same events from various different viewpoints. Hardly any mention is made of politics and there is little in the way of manipulative flag-waving considering the subject matter; it’s a tale of people simply surviving under the most adverse of circumstances. “Heroism” is shown not as some grandiose gesture, but rather ordinary people making choices that profoundly affect the lives of others for reasons often unknown at the time.
Nolan’s lack of sentimentality actually makes the story all the more affecting, making Dunkirk a moving and visually stunning depiction of the courage of ordinary human beings at war.
