Siren song of Dunkirk

Fionn Whitehead as Tommy. Picture: MELINDA SUE GORDON

Dunkirk (M)
Starring: Tom Hardy, Kenneth Branagh, Harry Styles

Believe the hype – Dunkirk really is that good. Seldom will you see an audience so engaged.
It’s both an epic and a classic – dominated by director Christopher Nolan’s sparse, bleak, austere style.
From the opening scenes, he creates an overwhelming sense of gloom and defeat, as a shattered British Army has the Germans to its front and the sea to its back.
And no matter how often they look over their shoulders and say they can almost see home … it’s not the same as being there.
But perhaps, three aspects dominate Nolan’s tale.
The first is the interesting way he treats the Germans – you see about three, at the very end.
The sense of menace comes from their artillery and, mainly, their aircraft.
The second aspect is the minimalist way Nolan attacks his dialogue – he’ll never tell, if he can show.
And the third is the way the tale shows cowards along with heroes – for every example of the British stiff upper lip, there’s a bloke who’s all about himself and saving his own skin.
The battle scenes are great – special mention to the aerial battles – and the tale is well told.
It’s told from three different perspectives, in three different time scales, from the air, the sea and the beach. Nolan, you’re a master.
Columns of troops on the windblown sand, all looking longingly towards home, give the film its epic scale and feel.
And when those massed troops hear the first wail of the sirens from the Stuka dive bombers … well, you’re there.
If you only see one film this year, best make it this one.
– Jason Beck