Topic > Analysis of the film "Dunkirk" directed by Christopher Nolan

Set in 1940 during World War II, Christopher Nolan powerfully recreated the events of Dunkirk, the evacuation of British and Allied forces from the northern coast of France. Known for his critically acclaimed films, including Inception (2010) and The Dark Knight Trilogy (2005, 2008, 2012), Nolan's unique style is also seen in Dunkirk (2017). Nolan was able to use little dialogue, with moments of the film silent, the moving story told with non-diegetic images and sounds. Its "precise beats and timing" musically (Nolan, 2018), aid in the anticipation of surprise, proving to be a crucial element in creating a realistic perspective of the battle. Thrown straight onto bloody French beaches and the English Channel; from land, sea and sky, the narrative recreates the fear and courage of soldiers in a war of constant instability. Demonstrated through cinematic techniques and overlapping storylines, Dunkirk's unique telling of the survival story was unlike any other. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay World War II was a terrifying time to live, with the end of the Great Depression bringing a global battle on a scale never seen before. With technological advances following World War I and increasing enemy numbers, the new generation of enlisted men and women had no idea what to expect. The changing tides, used literally at Dunkirk, forged chaos and its inevitable instabilities. Nolan's use of camera movement creates a dull atmosphere, placing the audience in each scene. First-person tracking shots, like the one used to follow Commander Bolton along the mole, allow for human movement, adding realism, moving away from mechanical and unnatural shots. The shots inside the destroyer, overcrowded with soldiers, were filmed from the point of view of others on board. “The camera work is entirely manual,… it pans, dips and zooms out as it moves through the crowd.” It gave the audience a perspective through the eyes of someone else on the inside. The constant action, from torpedoed ships to planes falling from the sky, was able to bring the chaos closer to home, representing the fragility of war. Without relying too heavily on plot, Nolan “deftly creates a constant tension that perpetuates itself almost entirely throughout the film,” with the plots flowing into one another. This all has to do with expectations, with what we think is coming. Nolan does this many times, especially when we see an approaching "Heinkel,... queuing to unload its load on the minesweeper" and its hundreds of defenseless inhabitants. Christopher Nolan's unique filming techniques were able to demonstrate the unimaginable instability of war. Dunkirk's dramatic and sometimes gripping scenes allowed emotions to swing high, capturing the fear of the World War II front. The horrific acts met with incoming enemy fire made the blood run cold, as Nolan managed to keep the entire room in suspense. One of the film's final scenes, the one following the Farrier pilot, has a loud, heavy, non-diegetic sound. This forced you to watch the screen as the movie draws to a close, watching it in anticipation, hoping it lands safely on the beach. This scene was long, as the camera chased the plane across the sky giving a greater sense of the fear in war and the sacrifices made. Even close-up shots of faces andexpressions allowed the audience to see brutal fear, and although there are "many different perspectives in Dunkirk, the way the film is edited allows them all... to come together... all united by a common emotion: Fear ' Dunkirk's unique execution, without focusing too much on the protagonist but on the moments they were in, was done intentionally, giving a grander sense of the unknown soldiers lost in the war, its intentional limitation of characterization. Dunkirk evacuation to see through the eyes of many. We learn very little about our main characters, a non-traditional approach, as Nolan believed that backstory and character-driven plot would be "ultimately irrelevant when it comes to the actual event of Dunkirk Nolan's films conveyed the powerful emotion of fear to audiences while watching Dunkirk. The true heroism of soldiers, fighting for their nation and their people, is unmatched in our world outside of combat. Nolan successfully demonstrated the challenge of courage in his interpretation of the events of Dunkirk. His portrayal of the civilians who heavily aided the evacuation of British soldiers gave a new perspective to courage. The crisis, an ever-closer Nazi army and "four hundred thousand men stranded on the beach", needed a solution, however, this historic event would prove difficult as "Churchil [only had plans for] thirty thousand", men to see it through. house. Although the evacuation was as far from the planned plan as possible, something could be done to help the stranded people, in the name of the civil army. The camera angle used as the oil-slick soldiers were pulled from the English Channel placed Mr Dawson in a position of power. His courageous sacrifice, going to Dunkirk after the British Navy had sent requests for civilian boats, was a heroic act for his country. To capture the courage and create an "engaging war film" at the same time, Nolan used characters, rather than character construction. With no real character arcs, the heroic deeds of men and women were shown through images and acts of appreciation. The soldiers' cheers on the beach expressed the pure joy resulting from their rescue, but still made it "clear that no victory is without sacrifice." The British soldiers could no longer fight, so they withdrew, and the film became brilliant once they returned home, where they read Churchill's letter, which glorified their experience, "wars are not won by evacuations... But c 'was a victory within this liberation that should be noted…'.The greatest loss of life in human history, with over 60 million deaths between 1939 and 1945. With the changing pace and the constant fear of the "breakthrough of the enemy”, (Dunkirk, 2017) Nolan represented war, in victory and defeat. The film relied on mise-en-scène to demonstrate the immense “power and might” that the front of the Second World War represented. Nolan's use of a neutral color palette, including navy blue, tan, and army green, mixed with the dull and bleak landscape of war, portrayed the destitute of the situation and immersed the audience in his creation . The uniforms, warships, planes and weapons revealed the time, place and history, which was also told during conversations. Nolan relied almost exclusively on images and sound rather than dialogue to express the genre of war, as well as crisis and resolution. “Taking advantage of an auditory illusion caused by… tone.