It's better to die than live

The Dunkirk Retreat, as an indelible page in the European battlefield of World War II, can also be regarded as a major historical theme. If you change to another director, according to the basic creative routine of war-themed movies, it will probably mainly focus on the positive performance of the war process, choose core and secondary roles, and then focus on intense plots and positive performance conflicts. In terms of values, because it is a just war, it can express the spirit of patriotism, the courage to sacrifice, the persistence to never surrender, the coordination of all departments, and the survival of adversity; or it can fully explore the historical limitations of the pre-war appeasement policy, and objectively express The lack of preparation of the Allied forces, the chaotic command and other drawbacks, took advantage of the crisis of defeat to highlight the ugliness and cruelty of the war, causing the audience to reflect and think. These two directions can also be almost sacs or the vast majority of mainstream war films.

However, Nolan is not a director who likes to play popular routines, so Nolan's version of Dunkirk abandoned the tried-and-true war film formula from the beginning, and chose a near-panoramic, spectator-style, conscious Avoiding the way the war process is told, the entire film does not show the German army in a positive way, nor does it have large-scale war scenes, and several groups of characters are not even connected or have a common goal of action. Three clues in different time dimensions, cross-cut, almost break the linear narrative. It should be said that this kind of exploration has obviously been carefully thought out, and it is also valuable. There are indeed many unknown possibilities in the film.

It's a pity that Nolan's attempt at "Dunkirk" this time is still subject to two shortcomings. The first is that most of Nolan's previous works have a certain distance from real life, and are somewhat sci-fi, Differences in dimensions or time and space, Nolan's talent is mainly reflected in the handling of those places. This time, "Dunkirk" is a real historical theme, and many creative experiences do not match it. The second problem is affected by the film industry. After all, films have to be shown in cinemas, so more extreme explorations and attempts are bound to be restricted, and we have to arrange some popular fake and empty treatments to satisfy the audience. Looking at it as a whole, the advantages have not been brought into play, and the shortcomings are exposed.

The biggest problem with content as a whole is "too shallow". Don't believe the three clues of sea, land and air in the propaganda draft. As stated in the interview with the director, he wants to objectively show the fictional characters, and the whole film is told from a display rather than a substitution perspective. The performance of each character is also very shallow, and the author's thinking, creation and mining cannot be seen. The actual content of the film is relatively limited, which can be summed up in three sentences, "The army is a coward, and it is unlucky to hide. The navy has nothing to do with it, and can only rely on the common people to drive small boats to save people. The movie ends and the plane runs out of gas." This is no joke.

In the interview, the director said that this is actually a suspenseful movie. I think he may mainly refer to the audio-visual language. The use of camera editing naturally guarantees a first-class level, and the style of the soundtrack is more torturing the audience's nerves. Impressive, but it makes people feel uncomfortable. Overall, at least it is not a "good-looking" movie in the usual sense.

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