A masterpiece that stuns with its vision and execution.
The “cinematic experience” has come to mean different things to different people, both positive and negative. This year Christopher Nolan (Interstellar, The Dark Knight) again delivered a firm reminder as to how that experience should be, with a thundering masterwork that demonstrated technical expertise and shook audiences in their seats. Dunkirk on home theaters may not be as immersive in terms of sight and sounds, but it remains a marvel of film-making.
Nolan’s film plunges you into the precipitous situation in 1940 that came about after crushing losses pushed the remnants of the British army onto the beaches of France, with little hope of escaping the crush of the advancing German troops. A logistical nightmare, it was a race against time requiring the enlistment of a fleet of small vessels to bring the boys home. It was a retreat, but one spun into a morale-rousing victory by Churchill that set the Allies on their way to winning the war.
You barely get a glimpse of the Germans, as the film depicts the villains as not the approaching Nazi threat, but time itself. Nolan expertly manipulates it, expanding and contracting across three distinct but interweaving strands. Three components, separated by time and place: Land. The 400,000 troops on the beach enduring the occasional bombing run by the Germans. Officers trying to coordinate the evacuation boats, continual targets of U-Boat activity. In their midst, a few young soldiers trying to find their way off the beach. Sea. The general public are roped into Operation Dynamo, an effort to use small private craft the cross the channel and bring the troops home. Air. The RAF’s efforts to protect those below as best they can.
This approach gives the film an incredible urgency, each sequence occurring over days, hours, and minutes respectively. There is no safe space for the soldiers or the audience; it’s relentlessly immersive as danger passes in one storytelling strand, only for another to take its place, with all three ultimately climaxing at one focal point. A relentless barrage of water, fire, claustrophobia, bombs, and bullets, Nolan assaults the senses or strips them from you in darkness. The precision of the editing (Lee Smith) and (often horrifying) beautify of the cinematography (Hoyte van Hoytema) are some of the best you’ll see this year. All are aided by a thunderous score from Hans Zimmer that will leave you gasping for breath.
It’s the most immersive experience since the opening of Spielberg’s Saving Private Ryan, but Nolan’s approach greatly differs. Where Spielberg relied on the ever affable Tom Hanks as a familiar face to plunge you into the harrowing conflict, supported by a band of fellow soldiers on a very personal journey, Nolan abandons any effort at familiarity and personal connection. Some cite an emotional coldness to the film, but it’s an approach that takes in the bigger picture, that Dunkirk is not a personal journey, but something much bigger. Across the three segments are actors of note, or fresh faces, unburdened by back story or other attempts at emotional manipulation, and each do their duty, an apt approach. They melt into the film to not distract or dominate, each fueling the overarching sentiment that this is about the collective, this is about survival, this is about wresting control back from the chaos to keep alive any hope of victory.
The Package
After witnessing Dunkirk unravel originally in the splendor of 70mm, this release had a lot to live up to. The film was shot by Nolan together with director of photography Hoyte Van Hoytema (Interstellar, Spectre, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy) using a combination of IMAX 65 and Panavision 65 cameras, the source for the 4K scan and eventual Blu-ray transfer. For the film’s Blu-ray release, supervised by Nolan, he selected a shifting aspect ratio where scenes filmed in IMAX appear at 1.78:1, while scenes filmed in Panavision 65 are at 2:20:1. Some may find it distracting; personally it wasn’t an issue , and I’d prefer to see the full image rather than miss out.
The picture quality itself is immaculate, and detail is high with grains of sand, uniform fabric, even beads of sweat on soldier’s faces all sharply rendered. The film’s palette is limited, but the range of blues and browns on display are huge and distinctly depicted. While not cinema quality, my home surround system and this release served as a potent reminder as to the impressive sound editing and Hans Zimmer’s thunderous score. Viewing at home isn’t the way Nolan intended you to see this film, but the presentation here is still very fine indeed.
Special features, included on a separate disc to the film, are:
- Creation (22min): Revisiting the Miracle, Dunkurque, Expanding the Frame, The In Camera Approach
- Land (17min): Rebuilding the Mole, The Army on the Beach, Uniform Approach
- Air (18min): Taking to the Air, Inside the Cockpit
- Sea (37min): Assembling the Naval Fleet, Launching the Moonstone, Taking to the Sea, Sinking the Ships, The Little Ships
- Conclusion (15min): Turning Up the Tension, The Dunkirk Spirit
- Coast Guard Promo (2min): How the U.S. Coast Guard assisted in the production.
The special features are really fragments of a much bigger “making of” featurette, broken down into five chapters and a number of sub chapters. Together, they build an in depth look at the making of the film, touching on many aspects of production, technical challenges, historical accuracy, and more. It really drives home what an achievement Dunkirk is in terms of filmmaking. There’s also a section that pays attention to the collaboration with the Dunkirk authorities as well as Britain’s Association of Dunkirk Little Ships, who still maintain many of the originals from the 1940 evacuation.
The Bottom Line
Dunkirk is an immense achievement by Christopher Nolan, something this superb release drives home. While emotionally distant and devoid of conventional narrative and character development, it’s breathtakingly engrossing and truly affecting, a film about World War II, tied to the sound of a thumping heartbeat rather than that of gunfire. Dunkirk is not just one of the best films of 2017, it’s one of the best war films ever made.
Own Dunkirk on Ultra HD Blu-ray, Blu-ray, and DVD from December 19th.