Analysis of The 'Britishness' of The Film Dunkirk

There is no doubt that Dunkirk is indeed a British Film. From its production, setting and cast everything about this film is British. However, I would like to dive even deeper into this film in order to analyze why this film is so British. I believe that the way Christopher Nolan shot this movie created a deeper connection and empathy for what I meant to be a British Soldier during the evacuation of Dunkirk. Through the interesting choice in storytelling, shot composition, and understanding of fear, Nolan created a movie that allows the viewer to place themselves in the shoes of what it might have felt like in the fight for survival that every soldier felt at the time.

A vast majority of movies that are produced place focus on the character. Directors and writers will create character-specific events in an effort to make audiences care about or connect to them. The emotional investment the audience is able to place into the characters in a movie often leads to more enjoyment and reviews. Nolan takes a more unique approach to this with Dunkirk. Rather than focusing on characters affecting the plot, he focuses on the events in the plot affecting the characters. Now, this might sound like a subtle difference at first but I would argue that this change is what makes this movie more interesting and more British. Rather than connecting and focussing on characters in a movie, the way certain scenes are shot immerse you as if you are a soldier right next to them.

As an example, let’s break down the evacuation scene where the protagonists are able to finally board a ship home. If you have a keen eye you’ll notice that every single shot during this scene is from the perspective of where a soldier could be standings. When we see the characters walk down the stairs the camera tracks them as if we the audience are standing on top of the stairs looking down at them. Further, when they are walking through the crowd, the camera follows behind them as if the audience is just another soldier trying to make their way through as well. Each shot during this scene is taken from eye height as part of the crowd looking upon the main characters. This makes you feel as if you are a part of the British army on that boat rather than a spectator. If these shots were to be taken from below or above it would create a detachment from the scene. Instead, the eye height shots combined with the camera moving like a person would create a subconscious connection to everyone in the boat.

Not only does this scene set up a connection to the British Army but it also conveys the emotions that one might feel in that boat. The previous shots in this scene help to set up an uneasy tension. This is furthered but a shot through the protagonist’s eyes watching the to below deck be locked and then turning to see other soldiers around him relaxing. We, the audience, can tell that unlike the others, the protagonist has a lot running through his mind. Things like - the door has been locked so I can’t get out and I’m trapped in a tight space with a bunch of strangers not only are visible by the look on the protagonist’s face but also go through the audiences’ minds. This also serves as foreshadowing where later on our worries are validated when the ship is hit by a torpedo and the protagonist nearly drowns.

These feelings progress through the whole film. Whether its the pilots fuel gage, or when the german soldiers use the small boat for target practice with the British inside, or the climax when the soldiers a dripping in oil as they try to escape for the ocean Dunkirk constantly fills the audience with tension as if they are among the British soldiers just trying to get off this beach.

Another big reason that makes this film more British is a little thing done within the screenplay writing. The opposing force against our protagonists is, of course, the Germans, however, they are only referred to as such once within the whole film. During the rest of the runtime, they are simply referred to as “the enemy”. Now the reasoning for this could be twofold. One, it sets up an atmosphere of horror around the germans as they are an unknown and faceless threat to the British (and by extension the audience). Quite often the scariest things are that of which we do not understand and by Nolan eliminating spoken information about the Germans as well as their screen time the audience is able to connect more to what being a soldier on the beach can feel. Secondly, it signifies that the movie is not about the Germans. This is not a movie about war violence or conflict, it is a movie about the British army’s struggle for survival. Spending any amount of non-essential time on the germans would have distracted from the core message of this film, the whole reason why Nolan decided to tell this story in the first place.

In the entirety of the film there is only one close up shot where the audience can actually see German soldiers but they are in the background, not the main subject of the shot. They are so out of focus that even, in the end, we are not allowed to see the face of a german soldier because the moment you see the enemy, they stop being an ambiguous unpredictable threat. They become a group of humans that seem tangible and less frightening. In the end, even if the Germans “won” at Dunkirk, the movie ends with blurry visuals of German soldiers but the shining foreground beholds what at this point has been seen as almost 2 hours of British bravery and excellence in the face of terror.

These choices made in filming, writing, and production all form together to create a film that is uniquely British. The way it challenges conventional war movie strategies like questioning the morality of war make it equally realistic as it is interesting. When it came to the evacuation of Dunkirk morality did not matter because at that moment nobody was thinking about whether the British were in the right or the wrong but rather only total fear and desire to survive. What highlighted is the bravery of the British army, air force, navy, and most of all, the British civilians that risked their lives to cross over into Dunkirk and pick the soldiers up themselves. This movie was all about British efforts made during the war and the casting of plain faces for our protagonists furthers the immersion that we the audience could have been right there beside them as a fellow British soldier.

The only aspect of the film that goes against everything I’ve written about in this piece is the casting of Harry Styles which doesn’t get any less jarring or confusing as a decision as I watch this more times over. His casting seems to clash with everything else the film stands for as he is a famous recognizable face that breaks immersion with the film. My only guess as to why this happened (besides giving a good performance) is that it was probably a great way to intense the market of teenage girls who aren’t normally interested in war movies to have interest in this war film. However, Harry is super British so let’s add him to our final tally of British excellence.