Returning to exposing the filmmaker's obsession with Cinema's ability to manipulate the temporal structure of the stories it tells (something already explored in "Following", "Amnesia", "The Prestige", "Inception" and "Interstellar" ), "Dunkirk" has, as its most fascinating element, precisely the way it develops its three main dramatic lines chronologically, jumping fluidly between events with different durations: while soldier Tommy's (Fionn Whitehead) efforts to survive are followed for a week , the sea journey led by Mr. Dawson (Mark Rylance) lasts one day, while the aerial combats involving pilot Farrier (Tom Hardy) take place over just one hour. All, of course, revolve around one of the most notorious events of the Second World War (and which has already been addressed, directly or indirectly, in titles such as "Desire and Atonement" -, The Battle of Britain and Rose of Hope): the evacuation of more than 300,000 British soldiers from Dunkirk beach, when they found themselves trapped between the Nazis and the sea.

Although representing one of the most interesting aspects of the film, the decision to intersperse events across three timelines brings, perhaps inevitably, specific disadvantages: as we gradually see some characters at different times, this compromises the suspense of certain sequences, as we pass to know the fate of this or that individual in advance. Likewise, certain decisions by Nolan as a screenwriter border on the incomprehensible, such as the foolish accident involving a fall or the anticlimactic fate of someone who becomes trapped in something without us even seeing clearly what happened. On the other hand, if the director is usually accused of exaggerating expository dialogue, this time he goes in the opposite direction, creating a script with relatively few lines and focusing purely on action and suspense.

And that's where "Dunkirk" reveals its strength: treating the Nazis as an invisible enemy (the words "Nazis" and "Hitler" are never mentioned), the work puts us alongside the characters as they find themselves surprised by shots fired, you know. From wherever and by torpedoes that suddenly approach without any warning having been heard. Thus, the absolute terror experienced by the British becomes intense, palpable, resulting in harrowing scenes such as the one in which bullet holes begin to appear in the hull of a boat without its occupants being able to do anything to stop them, being forced to confine themselves to a desperate crowd to avoid being shot. But if the Nazis are almost spectral threats, the reality of the English is brought to the foreground by Nolan through cameras constantly glued to them or even attached to stretchers, planes and ships, following their movements as they sway, turn or fall, causing disorientation. Momentary - and more than appropriate - in the viewer. In a similar way, the director throws the camera (and, consequently, the audience) into the sand during bombings, when we see, vulnerable, the approaching explosions and their lethal consequences.

At other times, "Dunkirk" achieves its effects in a more subtle way: in the first act, for example, there is a shot that, when moving away from the beach, reveals two posts that, positioning themselves between the viewer and the soldiers, appears to place them in an open-air prison, while, later, the difference between the size of the destroyers and the pleasure boats used in the rescue is economically established by a frame that shows them both crossing the screen in opposite directions, when we can see the contrast between their scales and, with that, the difficulty of the mission imposed on amateur sailors and their small vessels. Furthermore, Nolan facilitates our task of identifying a certain boat in different timelines by choosing a characteristic color to paint it, also illustrating the magnitude of the crowd of soldiers in a beautiful shot that features hundreds of helmets scattered across the sand.

"Dunkirk", however, is not flawless thanks to Nolan himself - as director and as screenwriter. The film has an extensive cast, but with many underutilized and wasted names, such as Tom Hardy (from "The Revenant"), Mark Rylance (from "Bridge of Spies") and Cillian Murphy (from "In the Heart of the Sea"). Meanwhile, little or no known names received more space - generally, without compromising. The exception is Kenneth Branagh (from "Cinderella"), a renowned actor who shines with the little material he has. Still, the script is a disaster in the construction of the characters, molding hollow or one-dimensional personalities, about whom little is known and about whom little cares. Thus, the possibility of some characters dying becomes indifferent and mild inconsistencies emerge - such as the conduct of Peter (Tom Glynn-Carney, film debutant) in the second half. The problem of dealing with so many characters consist of two sides of the same coin: not giving everyone the same space, verticalizing some to the detriment of others. The text does not do this, in fact, it practically does not verticalize any character, becoming superficial from this perspective - there are many characters, many of them without names and without any history. Even considering the proposal to portray a historical event, it is necessary to give it drama, otherwise the genre of the film should be documentary. How can you care about Farrier (Tom Hardy) without knowing who he is? How can you root for Dawson (Mark Rylance) without knowing anything other than his altruism? It is, therefore, an emotionless film, although very well produced. Still, in terms of plot, the script boils down to a narrative of heroes and cowards, which is typical of almost any war film - in other words, the plot is not very original.

Still, despite everything, Nolan's choices are understandable. The director makes a deliberate choice for a multifaceted story without much contextualization. There is no central figure - and the one who perhaps comes closest to this (played by Fionn Whitehead) is solely concerned with saving himself - but rather a kind of "collective" protagonism, with the script seeking multiple angles of the journey of those civilians. And military personnel who participated in the so-called "miracle of Dunkirk". The casting choice is also subject to this vision, and the use of newcomers or little-known actors in roles with more screen time is not without motivation, serving to highlight the anonymity of the soldiers, who say little or nothing, drowned in a atmosphere of fear and tension in the face of a real but invisible threat that could emerge from everywhere - the Nazis do not appear, only their instruments of death.

The British director's virtuoso technique is revealed in "Dunkirk". The entire film was shot in panoramic 70mm format, in IMAX, using a handheld camera and with as few digital effects as possible. The action sequences are impressive (on land, sea and sky) and Christopher Nolan's direction places the viewer inside them, everywhere: in the cockpit or on the wing of the Spitfires, in the chaos of the devastation of the jetty or beach hit by the enemy bombings and the desperate struggle against drowning in the belly of flooded ships. The exquisiteness of the scenes is amplified by the delight of Hoyte van Hoytema's photography - dark and dazzling -, with perfect and meticulous framing, exploring the infinite vastness of the ocean's waters and the mists of the sky, as well as a conscious choice to grant a dreamlike aspect of Dunkirk beach, which in many moments appears to inhabit its own particular reality.

"Dunkirk" is a very sensorial film and sound immersion plays a crucial narrative role. The film has few - and intense - dialogues, relying on the strength of the images and sound architecture. The ominous silence that precedes danger is always suddenly interrupted by a sound explosion that snakes through all corners, frightening and disorienting. Machine gun fire and the roar of explosions immerse the viewer in chaos. A low flight by a German plane begins to frighten the soldiers when the noise of the engine can barely be heard in the distance, and the bombings thunder unstoppable and unavoidable, causing destruction that cannot be fought against - and this feeling of discouragement and Impotence permeates the entire work, consuming the characters' expectations. The spectacular sound work is complemented by Hans Zimmer's score, efficient in building suspense, with its agonizing movements repeated to exhaustion - the main theme (The Mole) appears to emulate the ticking of a time bomb and the incessant resounding of a alarm.

The unimaginable rescue of hundreds of thousands of soldiers turned a resounding defeat into a triumphant and motivating victory. Alongside the merchant navy and the navy, civilians on fishing boats, yachts, speedboats, tugboats, boats, and various other types of vessels, courageously left their homes and crossed the English Channel to help rescue thousands of soldiers, who had nowhere else to flee or retreat in the face of the power of Nazi Germany. The Battle of Dunkirk was an enormous military catastrophe, which could have been even more staggering if the United Kingdom army had capitulated to the Third Reich. The initial objective of Operation Dynamo was to rescue 44,000 soldiers, but in the end, around 338,226 were saved, in the largest rescue operation ever recorded in history.

Christopher Nolan dives deep into the compelling reenactment of this historic event, testing his creativity by shooting a genre-bending war film with little blood or shattered bodies strewn across the floor. Working from an alternate perspective, the director and screenwriter retells one of the most extraordinary chapters of the greatest of all wars in a film with a prevailing, intimate and meditative atmosphere of suspense, through ordinary characters in diverse actions and sequences.