Dunkirk (English, 2017)

Christopher Nolan‘s body of work is so varied & impressive that any mention of a work being unlike another of his, in itself, would mean a lot. In going with a fresh setup presented in a monumental scale, yet, retaining some of his characteristics, he pulls off something remarkable with Dunkirk.

He plays with a wacky screenplay yet again (all his films except Insomnia have kept the viewers’ brains working hard through the watch with interlaced writing) but, smartly, lets it only stay complex to an extent that allows it to play second fiddle to the tale of survival.

The film’s cinematography (by Hoyte van Hoytema) & editing (by Lee Smith) help us stay with the narrative that focuses on individuals on land, sea and air – That’s not easy given the scale of the historical event. They also make us ‘feel’ the enemy even though they aren’t shown explicitly.

Nolan seems to have taken Hans Zimmer in his hitherto unseen journey as the score, from ranging from mysterious to pounding, is apt & amazingly different in style in comparison to their other outings together. The sound effects as the bombs keep flying off the Luftwaffe are excellent additions to the immersive experience on offer.

It is one of those films where the entire cast play a solid supporting role as the story is primarily told through sound technical nuances and doesn’t have much focus on influencing the viewer with human emotions. Yet – Mark Rylance (with his non-chalance as the ‘been there, seen that’ civilian Dawson),  Tom Hardy (who expresses his astonishment at the German aircraft & the grit to somehow bring it down through only his ‘eyes’) shine.

As straight as it may seem for viewers who have had experience with watching Nolan‘s works, the usage of the time dimension (elegant, make no mistake) ends up letting emotion take the back seat and leaves us longing to find that one hero we’d like to root for – Blame Spielberg for conditioning us all that way!