Dunkirk : Christopher Nolan's war epic is a Spectacular Tour de Force.

Dunkirk opens up with six privates walking on a deserted street in Northern France. We see one of them pausing to take a smoke only to be showered by an onslaught of bullets. Germans have successfully pushed French and British to the beaches while the trapped 400,000 men have limited means of escape. This is all the film stands on. Completely devoid of backstory and the historical specifics of World War II, Dunkirk puts us right in the moment. The plot is simple but the execution is not. Writer-director Christopher Nolan writes a screenplay fueled by claustrophobia and a powerful urge to survive the battle. His past films radiate his non-linear storytelling with the accurate blend of emotion and suspense. However, here he chooses to play with time instead. The audience is unburdened by unnecessary plot-twists and overwritten dialogues. Instead their mind is trained to adjust to the temporal complexities that distinguish between the movements on land, air and sea against the Hans Zimmer's sound mixing that act as a lament to the overwhelming terror.

Shot on a large format film, we see the young soldiers scattered on the beach, evading the bomb explosions and bullets. There is no blood and gore but the image of terror itself is a gut-wrenching experience. The film gives you a picture of the suffering and the immense pressure which is generated by their deepest desire to live. It is not a sight of defeat and chagrin but a celebration of the triumph in getting the wounded and the stranded out of the war zone. References to Prime Minister Churchill are the mere indications of his growing concern over the ebbing military muscle. Named 'Operation Dynamo', the 1940 evacuation had its share of contributors. The British Navy requisitioned civilian boats for the rescue operation wherein we meet Mark Rylance as Dawson, an old-timer who lost his eldest son during the early weeks of war. Aided by his son Peter and a young hand named George, he is determined in bringing the desolate back home safely amidst the resistance from a rescued shell-shocked soldier. The skies are patrolled by SpitFires; one of which is piloted by RAF pilot Farrier (Tom Hardy) who at the risk of degrading fuel, keeps the enemy jets from dismantling the destitution that lay beneath. Then there was towering persona Admiral Bolton played by Kenneth Branagh who was the pier-master during evacuation. These were men who ran the show. However, the biggest contributor here is Christopher Nolan. He has handpicked a compressed yet significant incident of the war and subjected it to a complex yet a visceral treatment. He disposes of the use of CGI and keeps the dialogue minimal to give the visual portrait of isolation, fear and distress. He has craftily managed to give you three individual tales taking place in their own time zones and locations converging only at one point; survival.

When it comes war movies, I have a very selective list which includes the likes of Oliver Hirschbiegel's Downfall ,  Stanley Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket and Steven Speilberg's Saving Private Ryan. However Dunkirk provides a more realistic imagery of war in a much smaller space.

9 on 10 stars