Dunkirk: War Is Hell

Dunkirk is written and directed by Christopher Nolan. It stars a troupe of British actors depicting the horrifying and heroic events of 1940, when Allied troops were stranded on the beaches of Dunkirk, at the mercy of repetitive bombing by the German Luftwaffe while the British Navy struggled to evacuate them as the water was too shallow for their ships to land. Instead, a crew of small civilian boats, ordinarily used for fishing or sailing tours, were tasked with crossing the English Channel and rescuing desperate soldiers, ultimately leading to the miraculous evacuation of over 300,000 soldiers. It's a moving story, and in the hands of Nolan and his team, a powerful one.

I accidentally watched this film in IMAX but I am glad I did. This is a movie that is meant to submerge you into the deepest, darkest, and most frightening aspects of warfare, and doing it while the Hans Zimmer soundtrack is thrumming through your veins via IMAX speakers and Hoyte van Hoytema's cinematography is searing itself onto your retinas is quite the experience. The story follows three timelines to capture the action on the ground, at sea, and in the air, each one grueling and exhilarating in its own right. It also depicts a full spectrum of the aftermath, from shell shock and guilt, to relief and grief; it is honest and unflinching about the heroism and tragedy involved in this evacuation.

The cast is a mix of fresh-faced young actors (including Harry Styles in his acting debut) and seasoned professionals like Mark Rylance and Tom Hardy. Everyone does a phenomenal job at capturing the fear, agony, and resilience that is part and parcel of going to war, and when you walk out of the theater, you will certainly feel like you were put through the wringer yourself. There is very little dialogue; instead the movie aims to plunge you into the action where there is no time to talk, only time to make heartbreaking decisions that will change your life forever. The soundtrack is marked by a ticking clock that is counting down each second of this horror, which serves to highlight the urgency and sense of hopelessness these soldiers feel as they await rescue while the Germans periodically swoop in and bomb them on the wide open beaches.

Dunkirk is an excellent movie that is sure to pick up numerous accolades over awards season. With a runtime of 106 minutes, it is a war movie that doesn't need a lot of time to get its point across - instead it efficiently and movingly illustrates the trauma of being in a war zone and the absolute pointlessness of it all. While the Dunkirk evacuation may have been a miracle that resulted in hundreds of thousands of lives being saved, World War II ultimately resulted in 85 million fatalities. While Nolan is presenting one of the "good" stories, at no point does he shy away from the fact that there is nothing glamorous about warfare. It is bloody, it is brutal, people die, and allies turn on each other.

Of course, the movie ends with a soldier reciting Churchill's inspiring speech:

We shall go on to the end. We shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be. We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender.

These words have always sent shivers down my spine, but I never fully understood the context until watching this film. Therefore, Dunkirk serves as a reminder that while war is a horrible and damaging thing, the human spirit endures. Sometimes, there are things worth fighting for.