So last Sunday, at the request of my youngest daughter – who is a die-hard fan of Harry Stiles, we went to watch Dunkirk. She had seen the movie already and didn’t mind going to see it again- one just can’t get enough of Harry Stiles it seems…
Besides Harry being in the movie (he nailed his role by the way), as you know, I’m a history junkie and happen to love war movies as well. There’s something that grabs me emotionally when I learn about the sacrifices and hardships of those horrible times. Maybe it’s because my dad is also a war hero who fought against Mussolini and I’ve heard his own stories my whole life…Nevertheless, here are my thoughts in this review (which Sandra Mancini inspired me to write!):
MY REVIEW:
Filmmaker Christopher Nolan went straight to the essence of the movie within the first scene that happens on the beach of Dunkirk. Hundreds of thousands of British soldiers tried incessantly to leave Dunkirk for home which turned into an impossible and mostly, a deadly feat.
The three main actors, all young boys (and I know that’s what made it all the more heart-wrenching), amidst thousands of others, struggle over and over just to get onto ships to leave…only to have them continuously blown up. They suffer near-drownings, wounds, deadly burns…it becomes a feat for survival, even just to get on a rescue boat. There are moments of internal conflict of whether to do the right thing- or just to be the one who will survive or be sacrificed.
There are several heroes that you vouch for throughout the movie- for me it was the British pilots. As well, the volunteers who rode out their boats to save the soldiers and get them back to British soil, swelled up my heart.
The filmmaker was particularly brilliant in not making one sole person the main focus of the movie- it was a collective honourable mission. In fact, throughout the movie we don’t even know the names of the soldiers; in my opinion this was to keep the focus on the event as a whole.
A terrific, moving representation of this incredible piece of history. I highly recommend it. Watch the movie trailer here…
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