Dunkirk review

I would prescribe that anyone going to see Dunkirk bring with them 1) a defibrillator 2) strong anti perspirant 3) a stiff drink for afterwards. (Oh and some tissues for the end when Elgar accosts your already tattered emotions!)

Going into this film I was emotionally underprepared for such a fiercely evocative experience! I cant remember the last time I came out of the cinema in such need of a tok of gin. So here’s the magic formula for putting exhilarating and slightly cruel levels of tension on an audience!

First off; the soundtrack in ‘Dinkirk' has a constant ticking beat which seems to slowly become more frantic as the film progresses. Han Zimmer manages to interweave an almost mechanical quality into the score which ramps up the tension especially when there is large scale devastation happening all around the characters.
Secondly; the quality of the ambient sound and shots made me feel scarily involved in the unrelenting conditions. The shots were so wide and dynamic it felt at times like virtual reality.
Thirdly; there are three different stories that cleverly interweave as the film progresses; Land, Sea and Air. Land is explored over the course of a week, the sea explored over a day and Air over the course of an hour. As the stories weave together you are often pulled between three different perilous scenarios. I love how Nolan play’s with around with time lines in his films and I thought it was a very original concept to have three different time frames in one film.
Fourthly; Dunkirk did an impressive job of capturing the immensity of the damage as we experience ships being torpedoed and sinking from various terrifying angles and perspectives.

However, In amongst these large scale sequences though the film also hones in well on the micro moments. There where some beautiful facial reactions that expressed real depth of emotion without the need of dialogue. I think the film had an interesting presentation because as Christopher Nolan said in an interview he wanted the whole story to be very present tense and there was no focus on backstory. Some people disliked this approach to character presentation but I thought it worked well for the tension of film that everything was happening very much in the moment.
There are some very breathtaking sky shots in this film and when the planes where diving I can say I felt on the cusp of queasy!
Definitely catch this film on a huge screen, sat close to the front and with an all guns blazing sound system as you will feel the bombs and music in your seat! A fantastic film and a very emotional ending (bring tissues or at the very least a porous sleeve)