‘Dunkirk’ Will Make Your Fly Problem Seem Really Dumb

Right before I headed out of my apartment to go see Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk at Hollywood’s Cinerama Dome, I decided to pretend like I was a responsible adult and take out the trash. When I opened the lid, a swarm of gnats escaped and began spreading everywhere in the kitchen. The windows, the microwave, the stove, and full grown flies started buzzing towards my ears. I clapped into the air furiously, nabbing one here and there, but I ultimately had to stop in order to make the 5:30pm show. I was furious. Annoyed. I was so tidy! How on earth did this happen? Well, they’ll pay, I tell you. THEY. WILL. PAY. I developed a detailed plan for their demise as I sat in my seat in the theater….a plan that included bleach, apple cider vinegar, a ton of anti-bacterial wipes, and sheer determination. But then the lights went down, and Dunkirk began. And if there is any move in theaters right now that will make you feel like a complete ass for worrying about a fruit fly problem, this would be the one.

I’m embarrassed to admit that when I first saw the trailer for Dunkirk, I truly didn’t have any idea what it was about aside from the fact that it rook place during World War II. I saw the seven-minute sizzle reel of Dunkirk earlier this year, and made the decision then that I would not look up what actually happened so as not to take away from the emotional impact of the film. I do this for the same reason that I don’t read books that movies will be made from (if I know that they’re making one) because I don’t want to sit there and compare what the facts are from what I’m being shown on the screen. It’s all in the name of preserving the overall movie-going experience, and I’m very glad I made the decision to go in blissfully ignorant to the historical facts (even if it is a little silly that I didn’t know more in the first place). What happens in the end is that it forces the filmmaker to tell his or her story in such a way that any moviegoer should be able to discern what’s happening, what the themes are, what the character arcs are, and still carry an emotional impact. And Dunkirk does just that, and then some.

The interesting thing about Dunkirk – written and directed by one of my favorite working directors today, Christopher Nolan – is that the only thing it seems interested in is putting you right there, in the moment, with these 400,000 men that are stranded on a beach with little hope of getting home as a deadly German forces tighten the perimeter around them. There’s virtually no character development. The character arc in and of itself is survival, or to ensure the survival of others. And from the moment Dunkirk starts, it does a stunning job of depicting the endless peril the Allied Forces faced from May 26th to June 4th, 1940.

The film focuses on a few distinct areas of the fight to put the audience on the front lines with the soldiers on screen. There’s Tommy (Fionn Whitehead), a young, good-hearted soldier that goes from one precarious escape to another with his comrades on the ground (and in the water); there’s Farrier (Tom Hardy), a British pilot tasked with keeping German dive-bombers at bay; and there’s Mr. Dawson (Mark Rylance), a British patriot who takes his recreational boat out with two young assistants (one of whom is his son) to help evacuate the stranded forces. From Tommy’s point of view, it’s just a matter of hopping to one safe place, before it becomes a death trap by bombing or drowning, and then barely making it to another. For Tom Hardy, it’s about keeping German pilots from bombing Allied ships so that they don’t kill soldiers like Tommy.  And for Mr. Dawson, it’s about getting soldiers like Tommy home, even if it means risking his life and the lives of the young boys that are on his ship.

The film moves from scene to scene with unrelenting force and tension; at many moments, I found my hand over my mouth and crouched to one side in my seat as if I was about to be bombed myself, reminiscent of how I felt during the storming of Normandy during Saving Private Ryan. I would dare say  that while no one scene in Dunkirk matches the one that Spielberg etched in cinematic history, Nolan successfully keeps the sustained level of anxiety and imminent death for much, much longer. Nolan does a masterful job of creating an undeniably dire scenario, where at times you’re not sure how survival is even possible. Whether it be by explosion, or by drowning, the various risks of death these men potentially encounter is ever-present and constant.

Every actor in the film does a remarkable job of bringing the story to life. Many have quibbled with the inclusion of ex-One Direction member Harry Styles, but I have to say, I had no freaking idea who this kid was before this film, and I made it a point not to know. The fact that I couldn’t guess who he was should tell you that his presence will only be a distraction for those who are familiar with who he is in the first place; to yours truly, he did really excellent work here. Nolan veteran Cillian Murphy also makes an appearance as a shell-shocked soldier barely holding it together, and well, he’s always quite good, especially when he’s playing someone slightly unhinged. Kenneth Branaugh even has a brief role as Commander Bolton of the British Forces, being our eyes and ears to the sometimes overly pragmatic military strategy around the rescue mission. But it’s Mark Rylance who has the most playing room here, and he’s splendid with the material that he’s given. It should be noted that Dunkirk could almost be a silent movie with the sparseness of the dialogue, but it just lets the other technical achievements shine through all the more.

For those familiar with Hans Zimmer’s work (as I definitely am), it may sound like he took two or three refrains from his Dark Knight score, and just repurposed them for Dunkirk, but for the entire length of the film with increasing intensity. I actually don’t think that there are many music-less moments in the film itself. The music definitely works and helps to create this propulsive energy to the proceedings, but I’m not necessarily a fan of composers ripping off their own material, in general. However, I won’t deny it was effective here. Very high marks have to be given to Hoyte Van Hoytema (Interstellar) for his stunning muted blue-gray cinematography, as well as Lee Smith’s incredibly efficient editing, lending a hand to the film’s lean 1 hour 47 minute run time and the remarkable amount of distress felt from moment to moment.

If you’re wondering why I haven’t gone much into the plot of Dunkirk, it’s because there really isn’t one. This movie is simply about survival, plain and simple. It’s about the lengths to which men (and women) will go to save their fellow men, no matter the cost. And Christopher Nolan has delivered a brisk, emotional, anxiety-riddled masterwork that should take its place amongst other must-see war films of our generation.