Analysis of The Film 'Dunkirk' Directed by Christopher Nolan

Set in 1940 during World War Two, Christopher Nolan powerfully recreated the events of Dunkirk, the evacuation of the British and allied forces from France’s Northern shores. Known for his critically acclaimed movies including Inception (2010) and The Dark Knight Trilogy (2005, 2008, 2012), Nolan’s unique style is also visualised in Dunkirk (2017). Nolan was able to use little dialogue, with moments of the film falling silent, the moving tale told in the visuals and non-diegetic sound. His musically ‘precise beats and timings’ (Nolan, 2018), aid the anticipation of surprise, proving a crucial element in creating a realistic perspective of battle. Thrown directly onto the blood ridden French beaches and English Channel; from ground, sea and sky, the narrative recreates the soldiers fear and bravery in a war of constant instability. Demonstrated through cinematic techniques and overlapping storylines, the unique telling of the survival story of Dunkirk was unlike any other.

The Second World War was a terrifying time to be alive, with the end of the great depression bringing a global battle on a never before seen scale. With technological advancements after World War One and increasing enemy numbers, the new generation of enlisted men and women had no idea what to expect. The changing tides, used literally in Dunkirk, forged the mayhem and its inevitable instabilities. Nolan’s use of camera motion, creates a tedious atmosphere, placing the audience in every scene. The first person tracking shots, such as that used to follow Commander Bolton along the mole, allow human movement, giving realism, moving further from mechanical and unnatural shots. The shots inside the Destroyer, overcrowded with soldiers, were filmed from the perspective of others onboard. ‘The camera work is entirely handheld, … shifting, dipping and ducking out of the way as it navigates the crowd’. It gave the audience a perspective through the eyes of somebody else inside. The constant action, from ships getting torpedoed, to planes falling from the sky, was able to bring the chaos closer to home, representing the fragility of war. Without relying heavily on the plot, Nolan “expertly creates a constant tension that perpetuates almost entirely throughout the movie,” with storylines flowing into one another. This all has to do with expectation, what we think is coming. Nolan does this many times, especially when we see an approaching ‘Heinkel, … lining up to drop her load on the minesweeper,’ and its hundreds of helpless inhabitants. Christopher Nolan’s unique camera techniques were able to demonstrate the unimaginable instability of war.

The dramatic and sometimes nail-biting scenes from Dunkirk allowed emotions to swing high, capturing the fear from the front of the Second World War. The horrific acts encountered from incoming enemy fire sent blood cold, as Nolan successfully had the entire room on the edge of their seats. One of the final scenes of the film, following pilot Farrier, has loud, beat-heavy, non-diegetic sound. This forced your eyes to the screen as the film draws to an end, watching in anticipation, hoping he lands safely on the beach. This scene was long, as the camera tracked the plane through the sky giving a grander sense of the fear in war, and the sacrifices given. The close-up shots of faces and expressions also allowed the audience to see the brute fear, and although there are ‘many differing perspectives in Dunkirk, the way that the film is edited allows everyone’s … to combine … all united by one common emotion: fear’. Dunkirk’s unique execution, without focusing heavily on a protagonist but the moments they were in, was done intentionally, giving a grander sense of the unknown soldiers lost at war. His intentional limit of characterisation, allowed the evacuation of Dunkirk to be seen through the eyes of many. We learn very little about our main characters, a non-traditional approach, as Nolan believed backstory and character based plot would be ‘ultimatly irrevelent when it came to the factual event of Dunkirk’. Nolan’s innovative methods brought the powerful emotion that is fear to the audience as they watched Dunkirk.

Real heroism of soldiers, fighting for their nation and their people, is unmatched in our world outside of combat. Nolan successfully demonstrated the challenge of bravery in his rendition of the events at Dunkirk. His portrayal of the civilians that heavily aided the evacuation of British soldiers gave a new perspective on bravery. The crisis, an ever-approaching Nazi army and ‘four hundred thousand men stranded on the beach,’ needed a resolution, however, this historical event would prove difficult as ‘Churchil [only had plans for] thirty thousand,’ men to make it home. Despite the evacuation going as far from the plan as possible, something could be done to help the stranded, in the name of the civilian army. The camera angle used as oil slick soldiers were pulled from the English Channel, placed Mr Dawson in a position of power. His bravery in sacrifice, travelling to Dunkirk after the British Navy sent out requests for civilian boats, was a heroic act for his country. To grasp bravery and still create an ‘immersive war film,’ Nolan used characters, rather than character building. With no real character arcs, the heroic acts of the men and women were shown through visuals and acts of appreciation. The cheers from the soldiers on the beach told the pure joy that was their rescue, yet still made ‘it clear that no victory is without sacrifice.’ The British soldiers could no longer fight so retreated, and the film became bright once they finally returned home, where they read the letter by Churchill, glorifying their experience, “wars are not won by evacuations…But there was a victory inside this deliverance which should be noted…”.

The greatest loss of life in human history, with over 60 million dead between 1939 to 1945. With changing pace and the constant fear of ‘enemy breaking through,’ (Dunkirk, 2017) Nolan represented war, in victory, and in defeat. The film relied on mise en scene to demonstrate the immense ‘power and might,’ that was the front of the Second World War. Nolan’s use of a neutral colour pallet, including navy blues, sandy tans, and army greens, blended in with the dull and dreary landscape of war, portrayed the destitute of the situation and immersed the audience into his creation. The uniforms, warships, aircraft and weaponry, gave away the time, location and story, which was also helped told in conversation. Nolan almost solely relied on visuals and sound rather than dialogue to express the genre of war, as well as a crisis and resolution. ‘Taking advantage of an auditory illusion caused by … Shepards tone’, the music played a powerful role in the film. The effect is caused by overlaying sound, each an octave higher than the other, which is able to trick the brain ‘into percieving a constant ascending tone’. The impact of the forever incoming ‘artillery from the west,’ was aided by ‘Hans Zimmer’s score… with the sound of ticking,’ keeping the film intense and captivating. This use of sound, ‘making you cling to your seat,’ told of the enemy approach, ever awaiting the predicted danger. Together, these methods made Dunkirk a emotive and strong war film, giving a greater reprsentation of what it was really like.

Christoper Nolan successfully recreated and demonstrated the powerful nature that was the events of Dunkirk. Nolan’s ‘new take on structure based on the Shepard tone,’  was able to capture and create a unique war film, aided by his realistic cinematography, and non-traditional storytelling to capture the fear, instability and bravery of soldiers in war.  

Works Cited

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4. Hassannia, T. (2017). The camera's blindspot: Christopher Nolan's Dunkirk. RogerEbert.com.
5. Kohn, E. (2017). ‘Dunkirk’: Christopher Nolan Explains Why the WWII Story Is in His DNA. IndieWire. https://www.indiewire.com/2017/07/dunkirk-christopher-nolan-why-wwii-story-is-in-his-dna-1201855262/
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