Dunkirk is a name that is not heard every day. For students of military history, it is a poignant reminder of the great evacuation that gave England hope for the future. Dunkirk is a small town on the English Channel in France. The German army - in a massive push - bottled up the BEF (British Expeditionary Force) on a small bridge head at Dunkirk. Christopher Nolan has taken inspiration from this chapter of the Second World War to portray on the big screen, the great escape of the BEF from the beaches of Dunkirk.
The movie touches upon the fact that this was facilitated by the Germans, as the question is asked: "Why have the tanks stopped?". The Film has been reviewed by the Times of India.
The movie has very little dialogue and gets its message across with battle sequences from all angles: soldiers, airmen, and naval seamen. The movie is historically accurate and depicts how over 300,000 soldiers of the BEF escaped from the beaches of Dunkirk. The film has been met with critical praise, but even if the movie bombed at the box office, it could easily go down as one of the greatest war films of all-time, alongside other war epics like "The Longest Day" and "Battle of the Bulge." It's a classic on celluloid.
The film
Everybody loves soldiering and soldiers, and Americans are not an exception.
The president is also a fan of the military. The film has global appeal and Americans will like it. The film is shot from three perspectives: from the sea, air, and land. It brings out the heroism of the RAF pilots and small time seamen who sail the channel as well as the soldiers who stoically lined the beaches in an orderly manner, despite the incessant bombing by the Luftwaffe. One of the most touching scenes is the RAF pilot short on gas which does not fly back but continues attacking the Luftwaffe fighters to save the soldiers lined up on the beach. He finally just glides down and lands on the beach to be taken a POW by the Germans.
Verdict
The film has some actors like Kenneth Branagh as Commander Bolton, Fionn Whitehead as Tommy, Mark Rylance as Captain of the Moonstone, and Tom Hardy as Farrier.
But there are no stars, and the film runs on the shoulders of the director Christopher Nolan, who is also the screen play and story writer. One other name comes to mind, and that is the music director Hanz Zimmer. His musical scores heighten the impact of the film with soulful tracks. The film runs for about 2 hours, and it's time well spent. Faults? Yes, maybe the director could have digressed a little more on why Hitler held the panzers back.