You sit down in
the theater. The film begins. Scene one: A young man in a British Infantry
uniform stares across the room of a busy health clinic at a pretty young nurse
with auburn hair, bright red lipstick and perfectly styled hair, giving inoculations
to other young soldiers. When the young man finally arrives at the nurse’s
station, he starts flirting with her in an innocent and adorable fashion. She
is annoyed at first, but her defenses slowly start to fall until she gradually
gives into his charms. The film then spends about 20 minutes telling how the
two young people fall in love, making allusions through flashbacks to the young
man’s difficult childhood. After a brief training montage where we learn the
quarks and characters of five or six other young soldiers in the young man’s
division (plus a salty old sergeant who treats the men roughly in their
presence but talks fondly of them to superior officers), the two lovers get
married in a rush, as the division is shipping out to fight Germany in the
morning. Once the enemy has been properly demonized through a brief scene
depicting a particular war crime (executing prisoners, civilians, etc.), we
engage in the second half of the film, a series of gratuitously violent
sequences where one after another, the main characters of the division meeting
grizzly ends, one-by-one until an expected “last stand” sequence where the
young man proves his bravery.
There are a
plethora of war films of various settings and periods that fit the above
archetypal format – Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk
is not one of them. Instead we get a film where there is minimal
character development, little melodramatic, inspirational speech and no
comprehensive explanation of the historical event being portrayed. Dunkirk is a stark departure from the
typical Hollywood formula for World War II movies. Instead of we get a riveting
picture of several perspectives from inside the event, one from the beachhead
where the British soldiers await rescue, one from the air above the battle where
two pilots battle enemy bombers and fighters, and one from the English channel
where a father, son and another young man seek to rescue the stranded soldiers
from Dunkirk.
Before getting
into some of the meat of the film, it’s important to review some of the
historical details, especially since the film doesn’t really do this. The
Battle of Dunkirk (26 May- 4 June, 1940) was fought well into the second year
of World War Two. Dunkirk marked a dramatic end to what is now called the
“phony war” – referring to the first year or so of officially declared conflict
between Germany, France and England where there was a state of war but little
open warfare, each side waiting for the other make a move. Eventually in early
May of 1940, Germany invaded France, quickly moving past France’s Maginot Line
through the “Impenetrable” Ardennes Forest, quickly defeating most of the
French Military and cornering the British Army and Navy at Dunkirk. It was
there that a perimeter was established and the conjoined forces of the English
and French held on for nearly 10 days, awaiting a miracle to evacuate.
In many ways, the
Battle of Dunkirk wasn’t much of a win. Thousands of British soldiers lost
their lives on the beaches and in the English Channel. As Winston Churchill
famously declared afterward, “wars are not won by evacuations.” What made
Dunkirk a miracle was that so many – in fact, the majority of British troops were
saved – and then could be utilized for the long years ahead in fighting the
battle that would ultimately topple Hitler’s war machine. The drama of the
situation of Dunkirk is one thing on the IMAX screen (absolutely, positively
the best way to see this film), but it’s even more remarkable when one
considers that Britain was more or less alone – the US had not entered the war,
France was virtually defeated and Russia would be at peace with Germany for the
next two years. It’s probable that Hitler wanted to sign a deal with England,
but the British weren’t so ready to give in. Their tenacity and stalwartness at
hanging on through the storm that was to come is nothing short of epic, and it
started with Dunkirk.
The film starts
with several British soldiers making their way through the deserted streets of
Dunkirk. Shots suddenly ring out, striking the men down one by one. However,
unlike most contemporary war films, there is little to no gore – the stress is
actually put on the sound of the shots rather than the damage of impact. If
you’re watching the film in an IMAX theater then you just about jump out of
your chair. This sets much of the tone for the rest of the film – falling
bombs, torpedoes, and bullets with nary a warning. This creates a tension that
you can feel quite profoundly – as if you were aboard a vessel, sitting on a
beach, trying to get home along with the soldiers. The sound mixing is vital to
the story – added to it by the resolute, foreboding, almost terrifying Hans
Zimmer score. These combined qualities make Dunkirk
one of the most suspenseful war films ever made. You can feel the terror of a
torpedo into the side of your ship, knowing that unless you have a quick exit,
you will be sucked under with the ship. As we follow several individuals from
shore to ship to sea, the tension grows ever more severe.
With minimal
character development, Dunkirk relies
mostly on visual storytelling to attach us to the main characters. We learn a
little bit about some characters at the end of the film, but by and large we
don’t who any of these people are beyond the fact that they are all either
evacuees, evacuators or defenders of both. But somehow our heartstrings are
pulled for them – we can appreciate the desperation of the situation, though
most approach it with a typically British emotional dryness. We are scared for each person because they are
individually valuable – the pictures of individuals give faces not only to
themselves, but to the countless men who are meeting eternity over the course
of the battle. An important message is to be taken away – each man is individually
valuable, not a mere cog in a machine. Though it’s tempting to think in numbers
(as nearly half a million men need evacuation) we’re reminded that the battle
is fought by individuals, and each live is significant and valuable because
each bears the image of God.
Another departure
from the expected is the lack of Nazi demonization. As if Nazi Germany needed
any more vilification than naturally due, often World War II films will go out
of their way (even if completely irreverent to the storyline) to dehumanize
Nazi antagonists (think Inglorious
Bastards, even Saving Private Ryan to
a degree). Dunkirk takes a wholly different
approach. Instead, we never really hear who the enemy is – they are referred to
as “jerries” once, but never called “Germans” or “Nazis”, instead being
referred to consistently as “the enemy”. We actually never really get a good
look at any of the “enemy” either. This is an important aspect of the film.
Without relying on the demonization/dehumanization of the “enemy”, the film
relies on the drama of the situation at Dunkirk. The German Military is the
enemy, but they almost become merely an agent of the truly terrifying antagonist:
the water. As torpedoes slam into ships and bullets fly into the beach, they
become a prod, pushing the soldiers into the water – a cold, faceless,
merciless and indifferent enemy, far more terrifying than Germans in trench
coats.
The message of
Dunkirk is mainly what you see – ordinary men placed in extraordinary circumstances
– in many ways, horrific situations where their strength, endurance and for
many, their faith was put to the test. But it’s also what you don’t see. With
almost no contextual historical information given in the film beyond the year
and the location of the events, someone who has no familiarity with the events
of Dunkirk and the following “Battle of Britain” is hopefully inspired upon its
viewing to educate themselves on them. Exiting the theater, I heard a number of
people saying things like, “Wow, I can’t believe I never knew about this” and “what
war was this again?” This highlights the importance of a film like Dunkirk - not only generating renewed
interest in a crucial time in history, but preserving and memorializing in our
collective memory the sacrifice of the English (and French) soldiers that
eventually made possible the eventual liberation of Europe – all due to a “miracle”
of Divine Providence in the salvation of the British Army at Dunkirk.
No comments:
Post a Comment