Dunkirk
Film Review by Kam Williams
World
War II Epic Recreates Heroic Rescue of Stranded Allies by Private
Flotilla
When
Hitler ordered an all-out assault on the Western Front in the spring
of 1940, the vaunted Maginot Line proved to be no match for the
pulverizing German blitzkrieg. The Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg
and France all fell in a matter of weeks, and the rapid collapse
proved particularly problematic for the Allied forces.
By
May 26th, about 400,000 British, French, Polish, Belgian and Dutch
troops had been driven to the sea at Dunkirk, a port located along
the northern coast of France. The retreating soldiers soon found
themselves stranded on the beach, since there weren't enough military
naval vessels to mount a rapid, full-scale evacuation.
The
logistical nightmare left most of the beleaguered, battle weary men
in dire need of a miracle, as they'd basically become sitting ducks
for Nazi artillery.and Luftwaffe bombs. At 7 pm that evening, the
desperate British prime minister decided to issue an urgent appeal to
private boat owners to join the rescue effort.
By
dawn, over 800 hundred vessels had been pressed into service. The
improbable flotilla included everything from speed boats and yachts
to tugboats and fishing trawlers to ferries and ocean liners.
For
the next nine days, they negotiated their way back and forth across
the U-Boat infested waters of the English Channel. And although about
a third of the ships would be sunk by the enemy, the altruistic
patriots managed to save 338,226 troops.
Leave
it to Winston Churchill to put a positive spin on such a devastating
military defeat.which claimed the lives of 68,000 British soldiers
and left the country in fear of an imminent invasion. On June 4th, he
took to the floor of the House.of Commons to deliver a rousing
speech assuring the alarmed citizenry that there was no doubt that
Great Britain would ultimately prevail.
"Whatever
the cost may be,"he said in a stirring summation, "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..." concluding, "We shall never
surrender!" All of the above has been chronicled in unique fashion in Dunkirk, a visually-captivating, World War II epic directed by Christopher Nolan. Nolan, the best British director besides Alfred Hitchcock never to win an Oscar, has made a string of memorable movies that includes Memento, Inception, Interstellar and the Batman trilogy, to name a few.
Here, he's found a novel way to recreate the historic evacuation. Instead of having the docudrama revolve around a single protagonist or a single unit, he has deftly interwoven a half-dozen or so discrete storylines highlighting the different perspectives of a number of unsung heroes. Whether on land, by sea or in the air, many among this patriotic band of brothers survive, but some do make the ultimate sacrifice in the valiant stand against the unspeakable evil spreading across Europe.
Shot in 70mm, Dunkirk is an instant classic worth the extra investment to catch on an IMAX screen. An inspirational tribute to Britain's Greatest Generation that just might be Chris Nolan's best picture yet!
Rated PG-13 for intense battle scenes and some profanity
Running time: 106 minutes
In English, French and German with subtitles
Production Studio: Syncopy
Distributor: Warner Brothers Pictures
To
see a trailer for Dunkirk, visit:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-eMt3SrfFU
No comments:
Post a Comment