I have heard about this movie for few weeks now and at earlier stage when I saw the trailer to the movie, it felt like a war drama movie. Then I did not see anyone that I knew off in that trailer. So I had to admit that it did not create an excitement to see this film, apart from the fact that it was directed by Christopher Nolan who was famous for directing amazing successful movies such as The Dark Knight trilogy, Inception, Interstellar and even the low budget but fantastic movie Memento. When the movie finally premiered in Indonesia last Friday, I did not go to see it since my wife and I already had plans to have our weekend staycation (also to celebrate her birthday). We only saw this one yesterday after we checked out from the hotel and had our lunch. And we decided to see this one in Epicentrum due to the cinema having large screen and also nearby our lunch location.
Brief Story Line
During the World War II, the British and ally troops including the French army lost to the Germans in the battle of Dunkirk. More than 400,000 soldiers were stranded in the island with the Germans on their tail and were sometimes attacked by the German bomber planes. Dunkirk was not too far from England and even the soldiers could see the islands, but because of the condition, they could only wait for the British army to evacuate them.
Tommy (Fionn Whitehead) who was a young British private was trying his best to get home and he cooperated with another soldier later on called as Gibson (Aneurin Barnard) to try and forced their way to a ship carrying wounded soldiers. However the higher ranked officer told them to get off. So they hid and waited for another boat to come. This was also the place where they met another British army named Alex (Harry Styles - member of One Direction boy band) and tried their best to be rescued. The story involving them was part of the narrative called "The Mole" which took place for 1 week.
The second narrative was called "The Sea" which took place for 1 day, where a medium sized boat captained by Mr. Dawson (Mark Rylance - The BFG, The Other Boleyn Girl etc) and his first mate and also his own son Peter (Tom Glynn-Carney) were going to Dunkirk to help the trapped soldiers. The boat was supposed to be taken over by the navy but instead they decided to go by themselves. A young man named George who was supposed to only help putting the jackets inside the boat also went along since he wanted to do something good. The three of them embarked on a difficult journey to Dunkirk where they would meet with various challenges. They also met and rescued a soldier (Cillian Murphy - Red Eye, Inception etc) who was stranded on the sea by himself and was having post-traumatic stress.
The third narrative was called "The Air" which took place for 1 hour. It was telling the story of 3 British Royal Air Force pilots on the planes called Spitfire with their team leader, the second in command named Farrier (Tom Hardy - Mad Max: Fury Roads, The Revenant etc) and the third member named Collins (Jack Lowden). Their task was to provide air support to the evacuation of Dunkirk and also to take down any German planes who tried to disrupt the process.
Could the evacuation be successful? How would all the above three narratives intertwine? You should see this one completely to understand and appreciate how amazing the movie was actually made.
End of Brief Story Line
Now this is definitely another Christopher Nolan's classic. At first when I watched the movie, I was thinking that the story was told at the same time and I did not understand what the timeline meant when it was mentioned during the introduction of the narratives. But then finally it hit me during the final third of the movie where the stories started to intertwine. So my advice for you who want to enjoy the movie, you really need to be fully concentrating when watching it, otherwise it would be challenging to understand.
The acting of some of the actors were also very convincing (by the way this movie was only having male actors and no female at all. So if you are looking for some kind of romance, then look elsewhere since it was apparent that Nolan wanted to do a solid drama movie without the "distraction" of romance in the way). It was amazing to see young actors who were able to portray the stranded soldiers, or the people who just wanted to survive. The more established actors obviously were very good such as Mark Rylance or Cillian Murphy and even Tom Hardy despite mostly having his face covered with pilot's helmet.
I also loved the sound effect of the movie even if it was not in any of Dolby Atmos or Auro 11.1 sound system. The sound of bombs, bullets blazings were absolutely powerful. Also the background music which added to the element of suspense (which was no surprise considering it was done by Hans Zimmer who won Oscar for his works in The Lion King, and various nominations in Gladiator, Inceptions and so on). By the way this movie would be best watched in IMAX theater as apparently majority of the scenes were shot using IMAX camera. There would be no post end-credit scene in the movie.
Now the challenge of seeing Nolan's work is that his films were never a simple one. Sometimes it had dark tone, and high complexities (remember Inceptions?). However, this movie was definitely not as complex as that. But as I said above, it would be best if you see this one with concentration to enjoy the narratives and also the various scenes. This is not a simple war movie with various war scenes, but it is more like a war drama movie of survival and with humanitarian angle.
If you are a fan of Nolan's work, then there would be no need for me to say that you would definitely enjoy this film. If you are a fan of war movies, then this one could be entertaining for you, but do not expect the gore kind of war movies with blood all over the scenes (which would explain the movie's rating for teens since there were no scattering of body parts due to bombs). Despite being a war drama movie, this one was different from another film that I watched in 2016 titled Hacksaw Ridge directed by Mel Gibson and starring Andrew Garfield. That movie was much more gruesome in showing us the cruelty and bloody war with a bit of romance but powerful stuff nevertheless. Why I mentioned about that movie was so you could see that one if you want to see a more linear story telling told in the World War II era as well.
For you who are not a fan of war movies, or if you prefer to be entertained with lighter movie, or if you do not really enjoy Nolan's direction, then it would probably be better if you watch something else. The choice is yours.
Happy watching!
Mike's movie moments rating: 4 out of 5 stars
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