Dunkirk

Dunkirk is a 2017 war film produced, written, and directed by Christopher Nolan that depicts the Dunkirk evacuation of World War II from the perspectives of people on the land, sea, and air. It features an ensemble cast including Fionn Whitehead, Tom Glynn-Carney, Jack Lowden, Harry Styles in his feature film debut, Aneurin Barnard, James D'Arcy, Barry Keoghan, Kenneth Branagh, Cillian Murphy, Mark Rylance, and Tom Hardy.

The film portrays the evacuation with little dialogue, as Nolan sought instead to create suspense through cinematography and music. Filming began in May 2016 in Dunkirk and wrapped that September in Los Angeles, when post-production began. Cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema shot the film on IMAX 65 mm and 65 mm large-format film stock. Dunkirk has extensive practical effects. It employed thousands of extras as well as historic boats from the evacuation, and period aeroplanes.

Distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, Dunkirk premiered at Odeon Leicester Square in London, a few days before its release in the United Kingdom and United States on 21 July 2017. It grossed over $530 million worldwide, making it the highest-grossing World War II film until it was surpassed by Nolan's Oppenheimer (2023). Dunkirk received praise for its screenplay, direction, editing, score, sound design and cinematography; some critics called it Nolan's best work, and one of the greatest war films as well as one of the greatest movies of the 2010s. It received various accolades, including eight nominations at the 90th Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director. It went on to win for Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing, and Best Film Editing.

• Year: 2017
• Runtime: 106 min
• Genre: Action, Drama, History
• Starring: Fionn Whitehead, Barry Keoghan, Mark Rylance
• Awards: Won 3 Oscars. 68 wins & 236 nominations total
• Ratings: Internet Movie Database: 7.8/10; Rotten Tomatoes: 92%; Metacritic: 94/100

Plot

While the film is shown in a nonlinear narrative, including the action of one week on the beach, one day in the rescue flotilla, and one hour of the air battle, the following is the chronological order of events that happen in the film.

In the summer of 1940, during the Battle of France, Allied soldiers retreat to Dunkirk. A British soldier named Tommy loses his squadmates and flees through the perimeter held by French troops to the beach, where thousands await evacuation. He helps another soldier, Gibson, bury a body and survive a Luftwaffe dive-bomber attack. They rush a wounded man on a stretcher onto a hospital ship at the single, vulnerable mole, overseen by Commander Bolton, available for embarking on deep-draft ships, but are ordered off again before the ship is sunk by German aircraft. Tommy saves a Highlander, Alex, from being crushed by the wreck. That night, the three board a destroyer, but it is hit by a U-boat torpedo before it can depart. Gibson saves Tommy and Alex as the ship sinks, and they return to the beach.

The Royal Navy requisitions civilian vessels in England for the evacuation. In Weymouth, civilian sailor Dawson and his son Peter set out in his boat Moonstone, rather than let the Navy commandeer her. Their teenage hand George joins them on impulse. In the English Channel, they save an officer, now shell-shocked after surviving a U-boat sinking. Realising Dawson is going to Dunkirk, the officer grows fearful and Peter locks him up. He escapes, urging they turn back, and tries to wrest control of the boat; in the scuffle, he elbows George, who falls down a staircase and suffers a severe head injury.

Three Royal Air Force (RAF) Spitfires fly towards Dunkirk to provide cover for the evacuation, limited to one hour of operation by their fuel supply. They engage in a dogfight with a Messerschmitt Bf 109. After shooting it down, one of the pilots, Farrier, has his fuel gauge smashed and cannot read how much he has left. He and the second Spitfire pilot, Collins, determine their leader has gone down and fly on with Collins radioing Farrier about their remaining fuel. The crew of the Moonstone witness the two RAF pilots protect a minesweeper from a bomber escorted by fighters: Collins's Spitfire is hit and he ditches. Initially trapped in his canopy as the plane sinks, Collins is saved by Peter.

Becoming increasingly desperate, Tommy, Alex and Gibson join Highlanders in a grounded trawler in the intertidal zone outside the perimeter, hoping the tide will float them home. After its Dutch sailor returns, Germans start shooting at the boat, and water enters through the bullet holes. Alex, attempting to lighten the craft, accuses Gibson, who has been silent the entire time, of being a German spy despite Tommy's pleas. Gibson reveals he is French, having taken the identity of the buried soldier in hopes of being evacuated earlier. The tide finally lifts the trawler but the group has to abandon the sinking boat. Gibson is entangled in a chain and drowns.

Farrier, knowing his fuel is running out, decides to keep flying to chase down German aircraft. He engages a German bomber attacking a destroyer. The ship is bombed and sinks, but Farrier is able to down the plane before it can attack the escaping crew. The crashing plane ignites oil on the water, but Tommy and Alex are saved by Moonstone, which manoeuvred to save the men in the water. One of the rescued men points out to Peter that George has died of his injuries. Dawson has Moonstone evade an aerial attack, using a technique taught by his deceased elder son, a pilot lost at the start of the war. Farrier reaches Dunkirk just as his fuel runs out and shoots down a dive-bomber approaching the mole before gliding safely onto the beach beyond the perimeter. After destroying the Spitfire to prevent it from falling into enemy hands, he is captured by German forces.

With over 300,000 men successfully evacuated, Bolton stays to oversee the French evacuation. The shell-shocked officer and Collins part ways with the Dawsons, as Peter honours George's desire to do something useful by arranging publication of an obituary. Tommy and Alex board a trainload of evacuees, where they are heralded by the public upon arrival at Woking. Tommy reads about Churchill's address to Parliament from a newspaper, pledging that Britain will fight on.

Cast

Fionn Whitehead as Tommy

Tom Glynn-Carney as Peter Dawson

Jack Lowden as Collins (Fortis 2)

Harry Styles as Alex

Aneurin Barnard as Gibson

James D'Arcy as Colonel Winnant

Barry Keoghan as George Mills

Kenneth Branagh as Commander Bolton

Cillian Murphy as Shivering Soldier

Mark Rylance as Mr Dawson

Tom Hardy as Farrier (Fortis 1)

Michael Caine as Fortis Leader (voice) [uncredited]

Elliott Tittensor as Highlander 2

Will Attenborough as Second Lieutenant

Matthew Marsh as Rear Admiral

Additionally Luke Thompson appears as a warrant officer who tells a group of French soldiers they are not allowed on the ship. Harry Collett also appears as a minor unnamed child character.

Source: Dunkirk (2017 film), Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0); facts via OMDb.