Dunkirk (4.5/5)

Dunkirk (4.5/5)

================================================================ 

War movie, no matter how good it is, it always has one problem.

By their own nature, war movie are always about decisive conflict between two sides of human political parties.

American and British Empire.

White American and Native Indian.

Allied and Nazi.

Good and evil?

To the audience, when one side is good the other one must be bad. No matter how sympathetic they try to make the 'bad guy' are, we will always pick who's good and bad based on our life and experience.  In reality, war and conflict are much more complicated but no matter how hard anyone try it never really work. In my opinion, no director can tell how complicate war really was in cinema. Quentin Tarantino might (unintentionally) try to put some grey a bit in Inglorious Bastard, where the Bastard are sadistic Allied commando, but we always know who that Nazi is a bad guy. American Sniper might try to portray Chris Kyle as a family man and PTSD survivor, but we also know that it’s a story about US Marine badass who fight evil Arab.

No matter to how hard someone might try, war movie will always be about ‘good’ vs ‘evil’. Simple as that.

Until ‘Dunkirk’ shows up.

Dunkirk is a movie that based on a true story about Dunkirk evacuation in World War II. Where the British soldiers were push back to the beach of Dunkirk and facing disastrous evacuation. The film shifts back and forth between three stories with DIFFERENT perspective of times.

The first story (the mole) was from on infantry perspective as he struggle to evacuate back and forth between Dunkirk beach and the sea.

It expands about 1 week.

The mole

The second story (the sea) was based from volunteer evacuation ship. The crew must made decision and faced their fear as they had to continue their mission along with keeping PTSD stricken soldier (Cillian Murphy) at bay.

This story expands about 1 day.

The sea

The last one(the Air) is a story about a pilot (Tom Hardy- who once again played a ‘guy with a mask with British(?) accent’ role) , who has to shoot down German bombers before they reached Dunkirk while running out of fuel.

This story expands about 1 hour.

The sky

As you can see here, the script timing makes the film a remarkable in itself. Rarely (if ever) there was any film that cover multiple perspectives based on different timeframe and make it seamless like this one had done. This film was an instant classic and would be a case study for many film students to come. It was intriguing, imaginative and a sight to see for those who love cinematography and editing. I couldn’t think of any word to say on how great it is.

The two symbols

The more important however is that this film is a film that finally BREAKS the whole the war movie genre itself. This film is not about a group of soldier fighting each other.

There are NO bad guys in this war movie.

Well, technically the Nazi German/Wehrmacht is a bad guy in this movie. However, this movie went beyond making Nazi a general ‘bad guy’ war movie. You saw their destruction but you never actually see them.  You might see their plane and silhouette but you never saw their face in an entire movie. You know that they exist but you never ever seen them. Christopher Nolan removed those ‘human’ face from them. They came out and attack allied outside the screen.

They are not human…. 

But as we watch from the safety of the screen, we can't say for sure that they are not monster either.  How could we identify something that we can’t see? Are they a ghost? They are not even a character. For the purpose of this movie, the German were served for something different.

They were neither man nor monster but a symbol.

A symbol of obstacle and hardship.

What about the Allied then, were they heroes? Maybe they were but they were not memorable. Not by old school war movie standard. They were heroic but somehow Christopher Nolan seem to remove something ‘extraordinary’ from them. I didn’t see Sergeant Rock and Captain Smooth. I didn’t see Cold Sniper who never misses. I didn’t see Ace pilot who could shoot five plane in a single run. Everything seems natural like I was not watching a movie but a documentary. 

If the Germans were symbol, then the Allied characters were also symbols.

Symbols of humanity by themselves.

As I said earlier, this was not a movie about two human factions fighting with each other.

This is a movie about human internal struggling in a war situation.

True, it’s the German that pushed the Allied to the beach. It was the German that bombed the ship and prevented the evacuation. But this movie is (mostly) not about heroic individual. It’s about humanity facing fear and hardship.  The difficulty that the character has is NOT about the courage fighting with the  German. It’s about the courage they fight the evil that exist within their heart.

The infantries’ worst enemies were not the German troop, but their despair and selfishness. There’s a lot time of time that one of them would have better chances of survival if they left their friend. They never did.

The worst enemy of the boat crew was neither planes nor U-boats, but the uncertainty and loneliness of endless sea.  There’s also fear that come in the form of Cillian Murphy’s character who meant no harm but become mentally obstacle for them.

And lastly, the worst enemy of the pilot was not the German planes. It’s a choice between saving himself and saving other. With low fuel and a high chance to be strand in enemy territory, the pilot needs to choose between duty and his life. 

Aside from last story, no one won this war stories by shooting anyone.

Another face in a crowd and a war in all of us.

All in all, this is a unique war movie that won’t show up again any time soon. It’s a strange creature in itself. It distances us from the character but somehow better for it. Aside from the boat crew, most characters were just a face in the crowd. Just another man in uniform. Someone who was so plain. So unspecial like us.

But what they did was extraordinary.

Not because of these guys had highest killing count but because of they fought their struggle and KEEP at it. Curtain will not be cut after we found accomplished or failure. Tomorrow maybe better or worst. But until the last breath, we must fight our struggle and hope for the better day.

For that is what human is.

That said, I like to end this review with this quote:

“Even though large tracts of Europe and many old and famous States have fallen or may fall into the grip of the Gestapo and all the odious apparatus of Nazi rule, we shall not flag or fail. 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, and if, which I do not for a moment believe, this island or a large part of it were subjugated and starving, then our Empire beyond the seas, armed and guarded by the British Fleet, would carry on the struggle, until, in God's good time, the New World, with all its power and might, steps forth to the rescue and the liberation of the old.”

 – Winston Churchill.

Note: In case that someone might thought that I sound more 'neutral' to German in WWII. I don't support any action relate to Nazi by any shape and form. Anything that I wrote is only based on I saw screenplay on this movie only.

By all mean, I'm glad that Allied won this war. 

To all WWII veteran, I salute you with all my heart and soul. You fought for all of us and deserve a better world than we currently have.