Dunkirk

*contains spoilers. 

So today I went out for a movie with my sisters. We watched Dunkirk. I don't think I'd usually go for a war film like this but it was written and directed by the great Christopher Nolan so I just had to go. Plus I haven't gone to watch a movie in so long so I kinda missed TGV's popcorn.

Dunkirk might as well have been a horror movie for me. My heart was beating so fast at some scenes. To me, movies like these scare me the most. Movies that tell a story of survival. Because it's so real and raw. Like, hantu movies are scary but I think that's all very much a story. War and survival and death is all real life. I thought it was a brilliant film. Felt more like a stunning, breathtaking experience than a movie, really. I loved how there wasn't really a hero and it was pretty much silent in that there wasn't much conversation but had so much to tell. There wasn't much to say anyway in war. The men are too busy fighting. So I really liked how Nolan took that into consideration. And Harry Styles said in an interview, "Everything that was said felt like they were needed to be said". There wasn't a need for a long dramatic pause in a dialogue, there wasn't a need for a monologue, there wasn't a need for a call back home. Because in reality, that doesn't happen. Everyone's spending time trying to fight and survive. There wasn't time for the dramatics or the romance. This felt so real and it's probably the first time where I watched a movie and didn't feel like anyone was acting. I also immensely loved how there were 3 overlapping timeframes from 3 different perspectives; ground (The Mole), aerial (The Air) and naval (The Sea) modes of warfare. And all three with different time frames. Expected from a director who loves to toy around with the concept of time and I was quite curious as to how he'd do that with a war film. 

It was a movie that felt so inclusive of all possible aspects and ugh, I just lived for the cinematography and the sound effects. They were horrifying and it really brought the audience to May of 1940 and dragged us to the beach of Dunkirk. Felt like I was rushing to the boat with them, felt like I was running with them, felt like I was drowning with them. Held my breath, gripped onto my seat, everything. It was such an immersive experience. I had my brows furrowed the whole time. I just haven't seen an epic quite like it. I appreciated the movie and I appreciated that it was more emotional than I thought it'd be. I loved how it wasn't really about winning the war nor was it about the enemies. It was about living. And I'd probably be booed off a stage for saying this but I also particularly quite liked how there weren't any women in it or were there stories about loved ones back home. It was about the men who were there and who went for war and who experienced it. There weren't much words as there were physical struggles. Which I think was why it felt like such an immersive experience. You didn't have to empathise with them through dialogue, you empathise with them through physical hardships. I also loved that scene when they got back and the old man giving out towels was saying, "Well done" to everyone and Alex (played by the handsome and surprisingly decent of an actor, Harry Styles) said, "All we did was survive" and the old man responded, "That's enough". Which I thought was so true. I was so moved by that. The act of surviving felt like a flaw from Alex's part but was celebrated by everyone. Felt like something I could takeaway from the film. That there's nothing to be ashamed of for surviving. 

It's such a great film and I highly recommend it. Takes you to a different place altogether. I love watching movies like this - ones that you come out of and the conversation of the film follows you all the way to lunch and dinner and the next day. Ones that drive you to be analytical and creative and imaginative. Breathtaking. 

And if I can write about a movie, it really is *that* good.

xx