A good war movie should not be a war mobilization movie.
Let’s start with a review of Ken Sturdy, a veteran of Dunkirk and a veteran of World War II. Keyboard historians who feel that the movie does not match history and affect your perception can refer to——
It's so well done. It's like in every detail it told the story just the way it was.
I was in the navy until the end of the war. We lost...so many of my friends are gone now and I keep going with all my memories. They're all there. And that film brought it all back again. It all came back to me. -I was in the navy from then until the end of the war. We lost... Many of my friends passed away. Only I walked forward with memories. They are all there. This movie brought them all back, brought them all to me
I can see my old friends again. -我再可以见我的老兵友了
YouTube Comments: Five star reviews from the newspapers is great of course, but this is the best praise Christopher Nolan could've hoped for. The best evaluation.
In 1995, Chris took Emma, who was still his girlfriend, on a boat, and wanted to cross the English Channel to Dunkirk. Before and after Easter, the sorrowful wind and rain, huge waves and fierce sea breeze, the 19-hour journey far beyond expectations was numb. Fortunately, Chris joked that there were no Nazi bombers on their heads.
So how did the peers of 55 years ago survive the hunger and cold, and the enemy's desperation?
In May 1940, many things happened on both sides of the English Channel at the same time. The Maginot line was disintegrated by the blitzkrieg of Nazi Germany, the British Expeditionary Force, the French First Army and the Belgian Army were dispersed, the French towns were lost one after another, and nearly 400,000 Allied troops were forced to the north. The long narrow coast of Dunkirk where they arrived one after another was surrounded by the Nazis from all directions for ten days after the 26th.
On the other side of the strait, in the cabinet, Churchill, who was elected prime minister for 16 days, and the peace party represented by Foreign Minister Halifax were in a dispute. This finally ended with Churchill's attitude firmly to the speech of the House of Commons. Surrender is a dead end, the United Kingdom There is only one choice, and that is to fight the Nazis to the end. This means that Britain needs to withdraw as many expeditionary troops as possible to maintain combat strength. At the same time, London’s naval headquarters was in turmoil, and the Royal Navy began its retreat code-named "Generator" to bring back these trapped viable forces and let them participate in the key battle of defending the homeland in the future.
The navy dispatched, destroyers assembled, broke through the channel blockade of Nazi fighters and submarines, and sailed towards Dunkirk's demoralized 400,000 people. Behind the beach, the remaining coalition combat troops guarded the corridor, and the Cold Creek Guards defended the Germans with fewer enemies and more to buy a bit of time for the large troops to retreat.
What followed was a slow retreat under the harassment of bombing: the port was destroyed, large ships could not approach the beach, the high tide made it difficult for small boats to operate, and the eastern breakwater became the only available retreat. In ten days, shipwrecks and plane crashes became the main theme. The team waiting to be evacuated was exhausted. The seriously injured were not given effective treatment and were not allowed to board the ship. There was constant friction between Britain and France over who should go first. But just like this, it was sluggishly transported back and forth in small boats. In addition, hundreds of civilian ships from Dover continued to transport troops without stopping. The British were in Hitler and Ge Lin evacuated 330,000 people under his nose. These survivors then went to North Africa and Italy to fight, and some participated in the Normandy landings, but they directly sentenced Nazi Germany to death.
Looking at it from all aspects, it is hardly challenging to make a panoramic war film. The anxious atmosphere of this incident, land, sea and air warfare, rear political struggles, spontaneous feats of the people, and the ready-made miracles all these have created will hardly cause any controversy if it is transformed into Hollywood's most traditional visual effects sensational blockbuster.
Nolan chose subtraction and a completely different form of expression. The panoramic documentary has its own trees planted by predecessors, and the materials and historical images have also been shown in various media for more than 70 years. What Nolan wanted to extract from it was the core of the entire event related to time and survival, so he cut off everything that was not directly related to the retreating protagonists (it turned out to be a World War II movie with no one in Nazi Germany); What arouses the audience's emotions should be the urgency of life and death that the characters are chased and bombarded, their escape paths are cut off before their eyes, and their survival efforts are disease-free, rather than the direct visual impact created by ordinary war films with plasma and human bodies. This is also the reason why the lens is so clean. After abandoning other elements including lines, the film focuses on only two things: escape and rescue, accompanied by Hans Jimo's non-stop timing. It will be an experimental independent film that no one has ever done.
This film is a perfect combination of subjective and objective. On the one hand, it is absolutely calm and neutral, and it does not worry about showing any life and death details (even if the downed enemy plane causes the sea teammates to suffer, or George's seemingly random death), it does not reward and punish good and evil ; on the other hand, it is full of absolute Subjective personal perspective, so even if you are involved in a silent film-like atmosphere, even if you don’t hear the introduction of the character background that often appears in other movies (Who is Tommy? Where is he from? What was he doing before the war? Is he Have a girlfriend waiting for him to go back?), the audience can still follow the characters and share their fate with them. It even resembles a third-person action game. The audience sincerely hopes that the characters will survive, because at the moment they are the protagonists and they are on the beach.
The essence of Dunkirk is about people in retreat . Leaving the majestic war scene and home country background, Nolan uses the most critical "time" of the 10 days as the axis, and through the perspectives of participants with a strong sense of substitution and three groups of different dimensions, he renders the rare suspense of the war film, The non-linear narrative and the disgraceful part presents the most unique survival story, which is completely different from other similar heroes who highlight the hero's aura and battle glory. Nolan is making war films, but from a certain angle, he has returned to what he is best at: personal suspense, realism and unusual narratives.
Tommy (Fionn Whitehead) on land encountered all the difficulties a soldier could encounter in that incident. He is one of thousands of stunned people who just want to go home and don't want to be a hero. Panicked, confused and anxious. He searched for supplies of the dead, pretended to be medical soldiers and got on the ship, hiding under the embankment waiting for a chance to escape, pretending to be a high ground. The soldiers fought for a chance to retreat and were bombarded by a torpedo...Tommy unrelentingly searched for all ways to escape from beginning to end. His rough experience also made the audience wonder: What will happen to this character? Can he survive to the end? This is a suspenseful personal survival story in a grand context.
From the first scene of rubbing up the flyer as toilet paper in the opening scene, people have also found that Tommy is very different from the tall protagonist in the traditional war film. He is the hero who risked his death for his teammates, sacrificed himself to accomplish tasks, and saved countless people. Without contact, the audience only saw an ordinary boy who was caught in the storm of war and eager to go home. This kind of shaping also resonates more with him, he is more like us.
Nolan did not want to glorify a war. The reality of the war is a group of people struggling to survive . Following Tommy's journey to survive, the director seems to be trying to embody the "cowardly" in the whole incident, the unpleasant things that are covered by the aura of Dunkirk's miracle. The British who refused the French to board the ship, the grenadiers who disliked the protagonist, and the naked-eye spy scene in the cabin pushed the dark mood of everyone's nearly collapse to a climax. Alex, who was a comrade-in-arms before, suddenly confronted "Gibson". "(French brother) got into trouble and turned the movie into a secret room in an instant. Pushing one's head and jumping out of the boat to face the Germans is the dark side of the desire to survive, desperate and helpless.
In a film that clearly shows the positive spirit of Dunkirk, Nolan is not afraid to expose the "cowardice" of this national hero (made by propaganda and the filter of the times). He also believes that normal audiences will not treat soldiers. We have some judgments-this is what happened in reality. The 400,000 Allied forces are not the kind of fake Hollywood heroes you imagine. How can this kind of frustrating retreat consist of beautiful memories of mutual humility ? Most people will end up just like Cillian Murphy's character-the unknown character he played in the cast watch is only called the "trembling soldier." The cold water and shells made the calm and self-sustaining person on the boat shiver and beat. I don't want to look back. This is the reality of hundreds of thousands of people.
War does not have beautiful qualities. If you insist on looking for light, they are all passive effects. Tommy, who was afraid of death, rescued Alex from the water. Tommy, who was afraid of death, spoke for the French brother alone. The French brother who was afraid of death gritted his teeth and crawled back to open the hatch for strange foreigners. The stretcher stepped aside, this kind of instinctive action was the light and heat that the trapped could only contribute. But this is enough. These young people who participated in the war and suffered for it have already experienced the test of darkness.
Nolan used the other two lines to light up the film, but he adjusted the brightness to a subtle. The civilian fishing boats and the Royal Air Force, with completely different identities, traveled from sea and air to France to save people. Actions instead of words conveyed everything. The behaviors of these two groups can be regarded as real heroism, but the way of expression is so simple, the lines are understated, it seems that everyone is doing their job honestly, and did not leave the audience "I am a hero and I voluntarily sacrificed for it." With the stereotype of ", the audience also entered the "work" state with them, as if they had experienced a day and an hour in person.
The different time schedules finally allowed the three groups to converge. Before that, can you imagine that the director would play narrative like this? This is not a dazzling technique, it will only make the audience's attention more concentrated, and at a certain moment the emotions are mobilized to the highest point-the plot measured in a week, a day, and an hour, actually in front of the ticking sound at its own pace The line reached synchronization. The three styles of realism on land, idealism on the sea and romanticism in the air merged into one at this moment. The strange protagonists gathered on the same boat and declared a difficult rescue and victory.
Of course, "victory" in the standard sense does not exist here. The world can call the miraculous retreat that preserves the vitality of Britain a victory (in fact, it is not, and the filming is quite restrained), but only the parties themselves know what they have experienced. The timing stopped abruptly, and the audience finally began to gasp. Tommy woke up and saw the long-lost green grass. One day before, they were still soaking in the cold sea. The fire spread along the fuel to illuminate a sea. The peers who were desperate to escape were floating and sinking with the waves, the French brother who had rescued them. But he can't swim out of the battlefield anymore.
There is no pride and glory, only the rejoicing of the rest of your life. Alex guessed that they would spit on us who evacuated in embarrassment. You see, the old man with the blanket would not look up at us.
But the British people laughed, patted the windows of the car, and stuffed their beer into their hands.
It's what you do that defines you. The young soldiers may think Churchill's speech is pure nonsense, but it's true that they met the first wave of evil. Under such circumstances, survival means the hope of counterattack, and this survival is the result of the joint efforts of all participants. When Commander Bolton saw the small civilian ship through the binoculars, and when the Allies raised their heads on the beach, looking up at the Spitfire fighter jets flying over the blue sea in a victorious posture, I think the director wanted to send a message, a message. Plain lines, realistic stories, and unenlightened feats can't bury the information--
No one is an island.
This is the only light on the battlefield of suffocation and cruelty.
ps.
1. The director's true love is Tang Tian. He gave him all kinds of close-ups, hero auras, and the most handsome lines.
-He's on me.
-I'm on HIM.
Exploded into fireworks! BTW, Tang Tian’s character has a prototype. The real pilot escaped after being imprisoned in a concentration camp by the Nazis for 5 years.
2. The little brothers are so cute. Without lines, not only does the acting show great performance, the director is still using the camera to fall in love with them. . Fionn Whiteheard, I quietly watch you red. Hajuan's acting skills are praised, and he has a bloody temperament (not...). Aneurin Barnard, the one who played the French brother, I feel sorry for him. The blond and blue-eyed pilot Jack Lowden in the Air Force uniform is suffocating... The director's eyes are poisonous. The last young actor the director fancy is Timothée Chalamet, the one who played Call Me By Your Name. So let us expect this wave of young people to reach the pinnacle of their lives.
3. People who say that the British are embarrassed to make the Great Escape into a movie are afraid that they are not mentally retarded. Some of Dunkirk's participants went to North Africa to fight Rommel, some went to Normandy, and the air force should have participated in the British air battle. What are you so sore about:) Isn't it blind to say that the movie shows the image of a great British person? Does the movie show that the Frenchman is cut off? The opening is. Does it mean that the British people are talking about the result of the withdrawal together, or is their own priority? Direct lines. Who saved a boat of British people, including the protagonist? He is a cute French brother. Did the British express their gratitude? No, people have to disembark.
4. The director’s beach covered with helmets pays tribute to his own "Deadly Magic" (. And the blind man in Dover is Uncle Nolan, POI Boss. Standing in the hatch is Nolan sending out the blanket. Cousin Miranda Nolan. Michael Kane is the lead player of Fortis, and only the voice appears on the screen.
5. I think this is an A-rated independent movie. It depends on the audience of Pearl Harbor and Save Private Ryan. After watching this movie, I may be disappointed. Regardless of them, people have different tastes. I really feel like blowing a wave of directors, this kind of bold originality is simply a treasure in the world. In Nolan We Trust.
6. Jia Fan’s obvious mistakes: 1). The medical boat soldiers asked the duo to “get a shift on”, which means to get off the boat quickly, but the translation is “put on a life jacket”; 2). Collins said “She's turning, you "Must've damaged her" means that Tangha broke an enemy plane (not down), "She is turning around, it must be damaged", but the translation is "It's spinning, you must kill it". This makes everyone misunderstand that Farrier has landed 6 planes, no, there are only 5 in fact. This translation doesn't even reach the level of picture-speaking.
Four brush thoughts
·The Ignored George·
Nolan likes to narrate subtle but surprising feats in an extremely plain way. These characters and their behaviors seem unremarkable, but when you think about it, you can stand up and applaud. They seem to lose their color in front of the heavier hero protagonist, but they are the most critical link in the director's value system.
George has never been on the battlefield, he has no cool army, navy, and air force bonuses, and he is just a humble helper compared with Dawson and his son. He said that he did nothing at school, so he joined the Navy Youth League and wanted to achieve something. This trip to Dunkirk to save people was the "best thing" he had ever done. He only hoped that he could be in the local newspaper and let his former teachers take a look.
When he said this, he was lying on the ground and blind, knowing that he was going to die. He did not die from torpedoes and bombings, and did not rescue as many people as he expected before his death. He died not vigorously or even a little ridiculously-he was just pushed by a frightened soldier and bumped his head, and then he was seriously injured and killed. It's so simple.
He didn't see the battlefield until his death. The so-called "best thing" was just going to sea to pull up the person who eventually led to his death. This person didn't repent, until he disembarked, he kept lying to himself "that boy is okay" (of course, this kind of escape mentality is also worth understanding).
All in all, compared with the sacrifice of the whole film, this seems to be the most insignificant and incredible death.
But it just happened. The 17-year-old George died silently on the floor of the inner cabin before he performed what can be generally called a heroic act.
But he was in that boat. When he was ignorantly saying "Go to France", it was not that he didn't know what he was going to do, he saw the neatly lined life jackets. George went to the battlefield voluntarily. We don't know if he is ready to sacrifice. But he did not regret it. If he voluntarily died for the country, it seems to be an exaggeration, I would rather describe this as a simple act of kindness-I decided to save people, but I accidentally died, so be it, and I too No regrets (the same psychology, Farrier also had when turning around to face the HE-111 bomber, "just so").
I think George represents thousands of ordinary people. They can't rush to the front line because of their abilities and resources, but they are not afraid to come forward at a critical moment. The motives are actually quite simple, just like the fishermen on the hundreds of civilian boats-our lads are trapped, go pick them up.
In Nolan's value system, such ordinary people are heroes, and George is a typical.
The same role is played by Cassie Affleck in the star wear. In the article "Neglected Affleck" , the author talked about his older brother Tom, who was in sharp contrast with pioneers such as Cooper and Murphy. He was tied to the cornfield passed down at home for his entire life, unable to communicate with his family, and lost his beloved son. The despair of the taciturn man is empathetic. On the other hand, it is precisely because these people on earth persisted in braving the dust to grow crops that allowed the pioneers to survive until the moment of Eureka. If you compare pioneers to rockets, Toms are the cornerstone.
In TDKR further forward, Nolan said through Batman's mouth—A hero can be anyone. Even a man doing something as simple and reassuring as putting a coat around a young boy's shoulders to let him know that the world hadn't ended.
Nolan's definition of a hero is self-evident.
·PTSD·
Nolan was still very naughty. He arranged for an actor with a profile similar to Fion. After Tommy fell asleep, he suddenly woke up on the embankment, and instantly caused some audiences to take a breath of air, "My God, is he dreaming? Really run away?" This terrible thought did not last for two seconds. As soon as the character turned around and Kenny shouted, everyone immediately knew that this was another person.
The purpose of this is not just to be scary. I guess the director is for the audience to experience PTSD. You know, Tommy will dream back to Dunkirk for countless days and nights, waking up in sweat, thinking that they are still on the beach, thinking that they have not yet returned home. The haunted feeling will never cease.
·Author's Film and Dogfight·
The only thing I am dissatisfied with is that the opening scene was accompanied by a cross-editing of Mole BGM. The tension of the Dawson and his son sailing away from the port was completely unable to compete with the two people carrying the stretcher and the fire-breathing three people. Set shoulders together, the effect is a bit exaggerated. Second, when Commander Bolton saw the civilian ship, the nervous BGM immediately transformed into the epic heroism tone of the main melody, which suddenly rose and made people uncomfortable.
Apart from these two exaggerations, I have no dissatisfaction with the movie. These two places are also flawed. Since "Fatal Magic", this is probably my favorite Nolan movie. Its authorship is too strong, even though it is the subject of a blockbuster film, the director has restored the true qualities of a suspense film and a non-linear narrative. The man who played with time with ease, once again demonstrated his super ability to transform the watch at will. He is a well-deserved master of time/narrative. This coquettish original operation cannot be found in the film world today. Even if others have his sorrow operation, it is difficult to balance with them in all aspects.
Many people complained about Nolan's action scheduling before. But the dogfight of this air battle is really breathtaking. Photography, soundtrack and choreography are all full marks. The actual shooting brings a solid feeling, which is hundreds of blocks better than the air combat mode of the Hollywood sci-fi film, which is good at JB and enemy planes. This is a tense, suffocating dogfight, with the blue sky and blue sea, it is fascinating.
Thanks to the director.
View more about Dunkirk reviews
