Movie Review for Dunkirk

The war movie Dunkirk is a visual immersion into war and a massive evacuation of a stuck army. The British director, Christopher Nolan (Batman Begins, Inception) uses many techniques to explore the realities of the evacuation of Dunkirk in 1940. Over 300,000 British and French troops were involved in the first wave of the ‘phony war’ (the time before the important fighting began) which saw the British army stranded and vulnerable to a full-scale slaughter after German forces pushed them back from Belgium and France.

Nolan’s movie shows the realty of war with loud explosions and chaotic scenes of trying to survive. The airplane battle was particularly important to understand what was at stake as the dog fights above decided life or death below. The heroic ordinary British citizens who turn out with small boats to rescue the soldiers is a bright spot of hope.

What I feel is a major flaw was the decision to make the movie without a personal story. Many history books do as much to understand what the battle involved and when I go to a movie at the theatre (which is not exactly inexpensive) I want to feel I left the place with a new perspective and understanding. I would label this film more like a documentary, and as a war film there are far superior offerings already made. While there are some dazzling visuals, visuals alone cannot tell a story. Because we do not know who the characters are, we cannot hope and cheer for them.

Had Nolan decided to tell us a story rather than give us a history lesson, the film would have worked better. I must confess I love Nolan's Batman movies, but they have a real story. At the end of the film all I had was an exhausted and empty feeling that I passed by strangers on the street and then witnessed a car bomb explode and some fellow passerby rescued them.

I happen to be a child of a WWII veteran (Navy) and many of my uncles also fought (my father’s brother was given a Purple Heart at Normandy). My father-in-law was a machine gunner that fought throughout Germany. Men at war have a deep understanding that life or death awaits them at all moments. They have a deep religious awakening as they go to war. They fight for their buddies; other soldiers are their brothers because they are all facing the same odds and realities. This movie lacks a real demonstration of these values.

On the bright side, one scene (involving the citizen boat captain) in Dunkirk touches on a Communion of Saints theme beautifully. If Nolan turned more towards this, then I think the movie would have been the one he aimed to make.

I give the movie Dunkirk an overall rating as a little better than average, and coming from Nolan, this is a disappointment.