[wpdevart_youtube]XRtZUkAR2u4[/wpdevart_youtube]
****
Dir: Christopher Nolan (12A, 118 mins)
War films don’t come much more epic than this. Christopher Nolan, director of the Dark Knight trilogy, Inception, and Interstellar, turns his considerable skills towards this tale of heroic mass evacuation, a pivotal moment in 1940 during World War II.
400,000 Allied troops were stranded on the beaches of Dunkirk as the German army advanced, but between 26 May and June 4, 338,000 were rescued, aided by ordinary fishing boats and pleasure boats that came to offer their help to the Navy and the Air Force. Piloting one of those boats is Mark Rylance, who has to deal with Cillian Murphy’s cowardly soldier, in the air Tom Hardy once gain wears a mask to muffle his voice for Nolan as a Spitfire pilot engaging in dog fights with the Luftwaffe, whilst acting newcomers Harry Styles (off of One Direction) and Fionn Whitehead are amongst the young soldiers waiting to be saved. Kenneth Branagh is also on ensemble duties as a naval commander in the defeat that was also a victory. Shot with customary verve by Nolan, this will be a war movie with intelligence as well as action and a slice of history made heart-stoppingly real, imbued with real Dunkirk spirit.
Opens July 21