Dunkirk

Front Row at the Movies by Shirrel Rhoades

[mr_rating_result]

“Dunkirk” should need no spoiler alerts. History buffs will know that Dunkirk was one of the most famous battles of World War II. During the early stages of the war, allied troops from Britain, Belgium, Canada and France found themselves surrounded on the beaches of Dunkirk by the German Army. Between May 26 and June 4, 1940, Operation Dynamo (sometimes called “the Miracle of Dunkirk”) succeeded in evacuating them. By the eighth day, a total of 338,226 soldiers had been rescued by a hastily assembled fleet of over 800 boats.

This rescue inspired Winston Churchill’s famous “We shall fight on the beaches” speech.

“Dunkirk” is now doing battle at Tropic Cinema.

Director Christopher Nolan (“The Dark Knight Trilogy”) came upon the idea for this epic movie some twenty-three years ago, when he and his wife sailed across the English Channel to Dunkirk. He dashed out a 76-page screenplay (his shortest ever). He decided to tell the story as a triptych, as seen from the air (planes), land (on the beaches), and sea ((the evacuation by the navy). Rather than using eyewitness accounts, he chose to create fictional characters.

Fionn Whitehead was cast as the lead of the film, a British Army private named Tommy. One Direction singer Harry Styles took on the role of Alex, a British Army private. Jack Andrew Lowden gives us a Royal Air Force fighter pilot. Tom Hardy is also a pilot. Oscar-winner Mark Rylance plays the part of a mariner. Tom Glynn-Carney is his son Peter. Kenneth Branagh takes charge as Commander Bolton. And Cillian Murphy shows up as a shivering soldier.

In order to accurately communicate the perspective of the soldiers on the beach Nolan made a conscious decision to never show Germans on screen. And to keep the focus on the soldiers, he didn’t include Winston Churchill or generals in a war room. He shot the film on location, on the beach were the Battle of Dunkirk actually happened.

“This is an essential moment in the history of the Second World War,” says Nolan. “Militarily it was a defeat; on the human plane it is a colossal victory.”

“Dunkirk” is Christopher Nolan’s first movie based on historical events. All of his other films have been original scripts, remakes, adaptations, or comic book themes. He calls it “my most experimental film.”

Email Shirrel: srhoades@aol.com