DUNKIRK
Is Dunkirk the greatest war film ever made? I do not think so. I do not even think it’s the best film made about Dunkirk. Director Christopher Nolan’s mission is to convey the reality of Dunkirk with obsessional attention to detail and no computer graphics.
The medium is to appreciate Dunkirk from the air through a Spitfire fighter (Tom Hardy), a cabin cruiser navigated by Mark Rylance and the Tommy on the ground (Fionn Whitehead). Each operates in different time periods leading to some confusion not helped by Hardy speaking through his mouth piece making him inaudible.
There is little dialogue and continual action sequences.
Nolan’s attention to detail is reflected in correcting Harry Styles for the way his boot laces were tied and using actual Spitfires. Nonetheless the Messerschmidt 109 did not have at that time a yellow nose and the senior naval officer at Dunkirk was Bill Tennant not Commander Bolton ( Kenneth Branagh)
Yet for all of this the film suffers as it has no political or military context. We do not see the tensions in the War cabinet with Lord Halifax imploring Churchill to sue for peace via the Italian ambassador.
Fortunately for the free world Churchill realised the folly of this as Hitler would never respect the terms and we would soon become subservient to the Nazis.
We did not get much information from the French side whose army fought courageously outside Dunkirk to cover the evacuation. The final scene was that of Commnader Bolton staying to oversee the French evacuation. In fact the French were evacuated alongside the Tommies sometimes in greater number. We had nothing at all from the German side, contrast here The Longest Day and Battle of the Bulge. So we do not know why at a crucial moment Hitler ordered a stand-off of his divisions when the Allies were in total disarray and at Nazi mercy. Rather an oxymoron.
As a historical document it falls short of the BBC version made in 2004 with Simon Russell Beale, Benedict Cumberbatch and narrated by Tim Dalton. This focussed on a small platoon making its way back to Dunkirk with the actual footage and graphic diagrams. It was far better informed and acted. The Nolan version did have the music of Hans Zimmer and the big picture which the screen confers.
The film had glowing reviews. This is one of the reasons as the Rust’s film critic I am asked to slip quietly into the cinema as wooing the critics is all part of the enormous marketing budget of modern blockbusters. I can also appreciate the audience reaction. They appeared drained by the visceral and uninterrupted sequences of evading bombs, noise, being picked out by Stukas, swimming for your life in cold seas. The chap behind me felt obliged to explain the history to his partner which was as irritating as the perpetual crunching of popcorn. It is though a film you would want to see on a big screen and not wait for the dvd.
