Dunkirk (2017) was breathtaking. Every shot, every word and every action helped capture the heroic yet catastrophic events that happened on that beach in 1940.
The narrative was split into beach, air and sea. These three sections of the film jumped from the soldiers stranded on the beach, to the air force in the sky, to the brave British citizens sailing in fishing boats. This structure made the film flow seamlessly, I thought it was very clever to separate the stories until they ultimately come together at the end.
The narrative of Dunkirk realistically represents what really happened to all those men. In May 1940, Germany advanced into France, trapping Allied troops on the beaches of Dunkirk. Under air and ground cover from British and French forces, troops were slowly and methodically evacuated from the beach using every serviceable naval and civilian vessel that could be found. At the end of this heroic mission, 330,000 French, British, Belgian and Dutch soldiers were safely evacuated.
This film is powerful, watching it as a British person I felt humbled and proud to be British! Although this film resorted me to tears on more than one occasion, the film broke my heart and fixed it back together again. From start to finish we are forced to relate and sympathise with our characters, we are forced to imagine what it would be like to be stranded there knowing your fate. I cannot stress enough how powerful each scene is, we all know Christopher Nolan as a director. He is a talented director from The Dark Knight (2008) to Interstellar (2014), he knows how to create tension and he knows how to tell a story. Without a shadow of a doubt he respectfully and brilliantly told the story of Dunkirk.
The cast is just as spectacular as the film itself, Cillian Murphy, Tom Hardy, Kenneth Branagh and Mark Rylance all play brilliant roles. Each capturing and embodying a different story to tell. New comers Fionn Whitehead and Harry Styles both surprised me at how professional and believable their roles were. Of course Harry Styles is not known for being an actor but his performance was touching and I thoroughly enjoyed watching him capture the essence of the struggling troops.
Ultimately this taught me a lot about my country, it educated me about our past and encourage me to learn even more.
I can only imagine how much work went in to creating this film, from the storytelling itself to the spectacular stunts and action scenes. I truly loved this film and I will always remember how it made me feel after watching. It is a true masterpiece.
9/10 probe points
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