Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, and Quentin Tarantino – these names and their reputation no matter the film subject matter bring people to the movies. Over the past 17 years, Christopher Nolan has joined the landscape of directors whose name alone will make a film worth watching. After his breakout hit, Memento, Nolan has gone on to direct critically acclaimed and financially successful films – a combination every movie studio loves.
What adds anticipation to any Nolan film is his ability to touch on different subjects in every one of his films. From creating the definitive superhero film in The Dark Knight to his 2015 space film, Interstellar, Nolan can take a subject one would usually not care for and not only put asses in seats but garner interest in that subject after watching his film.
Fast forward to 2017 and his latest film, Dunkirk. It’s a film that has Nolan tackling another subject, World War II. Nolan should be prepared to hear his name called by the Academy on nomination morning as Dunkirk is a game changer in the war film genre and continues to show what I already knew. Christopher Nolan is a master at his craft.
On the surface, Dunkirk tells the story of the Dunkirk evacuation of nearly 300,000 soldiers in the spring of 1940. Nolan creates an intimate and structurally breathtaking film similar to his previously mentioned breakthrough, Memento. Nolan does away with linear storytelling. With little to no dialogue throughout the film, an emphasis is placed on three separate stories about the Dunkirk evacuation – I. The Mole, II. The Sea, and III. The Air. Nolan uses these chapters and creates three smaller environments that culminate to a larger finale in such masterful fashion that it would make the legendary Alfred Hitchcock proud.
Speaking of Hitch, Nolan’s approach to throwing us right into the action with little explanation not only shows respect to his audience’s intelligence by not giving them clichéd bullet points as to what’s going on in the narrative. This film has a Hitchcockian feel that channels the master of suspense’s filmmaking especially as seen in his 1940 film, Foreign Correspondent.
One of the most refreshing things about Dunkirk is the lack of formulaic camp fire talk between soldiers as to who they have at home and eventually get home to. To some, it comes off as lack of character development, but in Dunkirk, Nolan is able to capture an emotional attachment to all the parties involved because of the mission at hand – survival.
While I do not expect any performance in this film to land an Oscar nomination, Tom Hardy and Mark Rylance should be commended for their performances. Rylance, who I still hold that he robbed Sylvester Stallone from an Oscar two years ago, is able to bring to light the spirit of the everyday man who wants to help his country through his character of Mr. Dawson. Hardy as Royal Air Force pilot Farrier with 20 lines total in the film is still able to gain adoration from the audience for his heroic acts throughout the narrative. The performance is mostly through his eyes, similar to Bane in The Dark Knight Rises and is quite effective.
When a film lacks dialogue, a film score increases in its importance. With that being said, there is no better man for the job than Hans Zimmer. Zimmer is able to capture the importance of every moment with his music and a score that is easily one of the best in his career.
At 106 minutes, Dunkirk is one of the shortest films of Nolan’s career but on par with The Dark Knight as his best. From its cinematography, production design, sound editing, to the direction of the man himself, Dunkirk‘s and Christopher Nolan’s Oscar chances are quite high in a genre defining film that cements Christopher Nolan as one of the greats.
Oscar, the ball is in your court.
Reel Talk gives Dunkirk 4 reels
