Christopher Nolan Called This War Epic His “Most Experimental” Film Since ‘Memento,’ and It’s Now Streaming
In Christopher Nolan’s grand filmography, Dunkirk is arguably the least appreciated. The war film took place long after the director’s beginnings in independent film and did not have the high-concept grandeur of Interstellar or Inception. Dunkirk was one of Nolan’s forays into historical storytelling with the underrepresented British conflict. A masterclass in filmmaking, he wove a nonlinear story with three different timeframes. The effect wasn’t to show the battle itself but the characters in an impossible situation. This feat created an accomplished film, and one that Nolan told Time was highly ambitious.
“I would say Dunkirk is my most experimental structure since Memento. I tried to give the audience an experience that would wash over them. They’ll sit back and—I won’t say enjoy the ride, because this is a very intense ride—but experience the film. I never want the audience to watch the film in an overly cerebral way. It’s not meant to be a puzzle. It’s meant to be an experience.”
Memento was an early example of the types of stories that Nolan could tell. Starring Guy Pearce, the film was told partly backwards from the perspective of a character who had short-term memory loss, while the rest of the film was told chronologically. This put an interesting spin on the neo-noir story of a man trying to solve his wife’s murder. Memento will always be a classic Nolan film and has more in common with Dunkirk than it may seem.
‘Dunkirk’ Is a Harrowing Story That Didn’t Get the Attention It Deserved
Before the release of Christopher Nolan’s high-stakes World War II drama, Oppenheimer, Dunkirk was an intense approach to history. The film depicts the infamous 1940 defeat when 340,000 British soldiers were stranded in Dunkirk, France, with the threat of the Germans closing in around them. This forced the English to be evacuated on civilian boats, a horrific conflict that Nolan explained was ingrained in the minds of every British person.
As the director is known for, Nolan spared no expense in showcasing the situation as practically as possible, shooting on location in the titular area. Like Memento, Nolan took an unconventional approach to depicting these events, using three different perspectives to tell the story. The three timelines showed the different fronts on which the battle was fought. Dunkirk told the story from land, air, and sea to get the futility of the situation across.
In many ways, the story of Dunkirk needed Nolan for this story to be successful on screen. It was a singularly British tale that needed the Batman director’s prowess to get the idea across. No film in the British film industry would have had the budget to pull off what was needed to make the film authentic. Nolan’s pull with Hollywood and his inherent Britishness ensured this story could finally be told.
Nolan didn’t skimp on what has made him a visionary director, either. His stories told from the land, air, and sea were all different, one utilizing the seldom-seen star of The Dark Knight Rises. Tom Hardy has been a long-time collaborator with Nolan, playing a fighter pilot whose face is only revealed in the final moments of his story arc. Had the director not made such a killing with Interstellar and Oppenheimer, Dunkirk may not have been so overshadowed. Fans can watch this underrated film, currently streaming on Peacock.
A soldier looks up while standing alongside hundreds of other soldiers on a boat in Dunkirk
Release Date
July 19, 2017
Runtime
107 minutes
Producers
Emma Thomas, Greg Silverman
