από cellophan » Κυρ 27 Αύγ 2017, 01:11
Είδα χτες το Dunkirk. Ακολουθεί μια κριτική μου για την ταινία που αξίζει να τη δείτε. Σόρυ για τα Αγγλικά αλλά γράφτηκε για έξω.
"I grew up -as many of my age peers, I guess- reading hundreds of war graphic pocket novels like “TANK”, “EFODOS”, DRASI”, “MAXH”, living vividly the great battle stories of WWII, so names like Normandy, Dunkirk, Ardennes, Anzio, Tobruk, El-Alamein, Kursk etc. were early known along with their historical significance. All these years, I have never stopped considering Dunkirk a huge war paradox, an unsolved mystery. What train of thought or circumstances led Hitler to the decision to –in essence- provide a free pass to almost half a million allied troops, to avoid certain death or capture and return back home, take a nap and then dress up to fight again? Back then I asked and read a lot (no internet guys) and I never reached a persuasive decision to what seems to be the most critical mistake that eventually lost the war for the Nazis. The war of Britain that followed would be most likely won and maybe the “Man on the high castle” would be a historic book instead of fiction.
So you can understand my enthusiasm and anticipation to watch Dunkirk. I did that today. Followed my whiskey in the theater ritual, breeze was gorgeous and the cinema was not an iMax, but yet again pretty good for an al fresco setting. What did I see? Let me avoid spoilers and use bullets:
- If you go to the see movie to solve your Dunkirk mystery or even grasp a few hints that will help you, you are in for a sour treat. Nolan created a movie and named it after one of the greatest war events of that period but in essence Dunkirk is purposefully irrelevant. It could be any beach, hosting any battle, anywhere in the world. There is not a thread of any historical information, not a mention of any historical figures apart from Churchill’s speech. If you ignore what happened to Dunkirk or just know the headlines, that is what you get from seeing the movie. I suggest you get a book if you seek otherwise.
- You thought you would see a war movie. Nah, too trivial for Nolan. Its not. It’s an agonizing survival movie in a war setting. Selecting Dunkirk for his first attempt in the war movie genre is a very smart, almost devious idea. Another masterpiece, “Das Boot” is probably the best war movie of all times, with one of the battling sides not throwing a shot at anything for almost four movie hours. Same applies here. But to the contrary with “Das Boot”, Nolan does not focus on one main character; instead he creates a cluster of characters analyzed mostly by their gestures and actions. Each character alone could be deemed weak in one’s eyes, but all together as a cluster provide a powerful combination signaling messages to the same direction. Script is minimal and could use work, which is true. Probably Nolan’s hyper ego played some part here on the film’s expense.
- What stroke me as a (pleasant?) surprise is that Nolan went for minimal, even in the case of visualizing the Dunkirk evacuation. I did not expect that, especially when I heard that he was shooting for iMax. I expected the full 500.000 soldiers packed on a beach pocket , more than a thousand ships coming and going with noise and fumes and airplanes flying over their decks throwing tons of bombs and creating hellfire. But no, Nolan follows the almost theatrical approach…..no CGI replications, no visual additions……a fantastic perspective with problems in execution at some sequences, but still admirable.
- But if one thinks that is admirable, wait and see Nolan’s timeline management. OK, we knew Nolan's talent on that from “Inception”, its not new. But guys, he mastered his craft in this movie. The way he handles his backs and fourths is seamless, smooth and rough when needed like a silky diamond. Help from Zimmer's music in accomplishing such results is crucial but then again you have to acknowledge that Nolan is nothing less than a cinematic genius in that area.
Oh, I could go on for a few more bullets but not without spoilers. I think I’ve shared enough. One last thing. Do not go and see it as a war movie. You will be disappointed. Watch it along the lines of Malick’s “Thin Red Line”, Petersen’s “Das Boot” and Pekinpa’s “Cross of Iorn” forgiving each of these three movies for the decades they have on their backs.
8/10 from me, with a major disagreement for its duration, which I guess was another victim of Nolan’s desire to be minimal in everything regarding this movie.