The story is told in three distinct sections, titled "The Mole," "The Sea," and "The Air." Each tells a unique story revolving around fictional characters and their wartime efforts. "The Mole" spans one week, "Sea" one day, and "air" one hour. The intercutting between these sections and the paths they take and intersect is a risky move for such an established genre. "Saving Private Ryan" isn't known for it's complex structure - it lets the action speak for itself. We get to know our characters. We feel the chaos of war. The other thing Nolan does is introduce us to these characters without names or backstory. They are just one of the thousands of faces we see on screen. The story being told isn't a hero returning to his wife, it's the safe evacuation of 400,000 soldiers.
The majority of screen time seems focused on the new, wonderful actor named Fionn Whitehead, a young boy who dodges bullets in the opening scene and then concocts an impromptu scheme to pose as a medic in order to be evacuated on the nearest ferry via a long and damaged causeway - "the mole." Despite their efforts, torpedoes and airstrikes keep the men on stranded on the beach. In an array of explosions, sand, and bodies, these men have no where to go.
We also meet a character played by Mark Rylance who is a civilian recruited to bring his boat out to rescue the stranded men across the sea. Rylance all but steals the movie here. He brings his two sons who offer their help when they come across a stranded Cillian Murphy at sea. Rylance recognized the signs of shell shock and tells his boys "he may never be the same again." Out of all the characters in the movie, his is the only one who seems confident in his abilities to lead. He's wonderful. The third act "the air," follows Tom Hardy as a pilot tasked with defending the beach. Not only does his plane get shot and damaged by enemy fire, but his fuel tank is slowly dwindling away...
"Dunkirk" is beautifully-shot and scored (Hans Zimmer, of course) who uses the repeated sounds of a ticking clock to help amp up the suspense throughout the film. In fact the whole film feels like rising action without a break. At barely 100 minutes, this is surely one of Nolan's shortest films, but we appreciate it's time given the intensity of the situations we find these men in. Even at this length, I found myself becoming tired by the suspense, almost wanting a moment of quietness in which characters discuss what the plan is or where they are from. I suppose that's too cliche in a film that takes so many risks. In fact, there is almost an entire lack of dialogue. All story is told through action, words are inconsequential. Compared to Nolan's wordy "Inception" that was chock full of riddles and exposition, the silence of "Dunkirk" was both jaw-dropping and absolutely inspired.
Overall, I would say that Nolan has more accomplished pieces of filmmaking out there. This movie, as good as it is, still falls victim to a variety of cliches that took me out of the picture. There's an accident on Rylance's boat midway through the movie that tries to become some sort of moral quandry but neither the characters or the script devotes enough time to the real implications. It's over the top and almost unbelievable. Also, the final scenes of Tom Hardy's Spitfire (after his fuel is depleted) has moments of beauty but still feels like an unnecessary addition to a film that is overall so grounded in reality. I know the opening titles tell us that the soldiers were hoping for a miracle. I just don't think Christopher Nolan needs to spell it out so plainly for us.
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