Dunkirk, Christopher Nolan’s gripping and engrossing World War II drama, is pure cinema. The rescue of 400,000 Allied troopers, hemmed in by the Nazis on the seashores of Dunkirk in northern France in 1940, is instructed with minimal dialogue or commentary, and what dialogue there’s is commonly unintelligible resulting from explosions, gunfire, thick accents, and Hans Zimmer’s relentless, nerve-shredding rating. Instead of offering background or exposition, Nolan plunges viewers straight into the battle as a bunch of troopers run by means of the streets of Dunkirk, desperately attempting to keep away from German snipers. One soldier, Tommy (newcomer Fionn Whitehead, spectacular), manages to scramble over a wood gate and escape; his comrades aren’t as fortunate. Tommy instantly heads to the shore and discovers he’s not alone. Hundreds of hundreds of French and British troops are lined up ready for naval ships, or another vessel, to reach and take them throughout the English Channel to security. Unfortunately, they’re sitting geese within the meantime for the German Luftwaffe, who routinely strafe the coast with machine gunfire and bombs. They additionally sink any ships trying rescue.

Most filmmakers would have Tommy interact in dialog with some fellow grunts to develop character. Not Nolan, who additionally wrote the lean, sharp script. Everything in Dunkirk is instant and visceral; there’s no time for chitchat. As such, the images inform the story. And what footage Nolan provides us, ably assisted by top-notch cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema (whose work needs to be remembered come Oscar season). They inform their pulse-pounding story in three distinct story traces—on land, sea, and within the air—with three various time frames. The portion on land takes place over the course of 1 week. The sea segments, through which extraordinary residents use their fishing vessels, yachts, and sailboats for a rescue try, cowl sooner or later. And a riveting aerial battle encompasses solely a single hour. But Nolan and editor Lee Smith expertly mix the three eventualities collectively right into a largely seamless collage, which makes it really feel as if they’re all occurring concurrently. The gimmick largely works, however it does get a bit complicated when day and evening scenes bump up in opposition to one another. Also, the three strands don’t logically match collectively after they merge on the finish, though most viewers received’t care and even discover by then resulting from Nolan’s complete mastery of his medium.

Dunkirk is, in some ways, the antithesis of Saving Private Ryan. There’s little blood; zero character improvement; and, apart from the aerial dogfights, no actual battles. The focus as a substitute is on instant survival. We quiver together with a bunch of troopers as they huddle collectively within the hull of an deserted boat whereas enemy bullets regularly rip by means of the metallic. We’re trapped underwater with troopers attempting to flee a sinking Red Cross hospital ship hit by a torpedo. We trip together with an extraordinary man (Mark Rylance, understated and glorious), his teen son (Tom Glynn-Carney), and the boy’s good friend (Barry Keoghan) as they pluck a shell-shocked soldier (Cillian Murphy) from the ocean and assist different stranded males engulfed in an oil hearth blazing on the water. And the exhilarating dogfights are given extra urgency as a Royal Air Force pilot (the all the time excellent Tom Hardy) should determine between returning to base resulting from low gas or persevering with to combat, thus probably saving numerous lives.

Dunkirk clocks in at a brisk 106 minutes. Nolan doesn’t try to seize the enormity of the Dunkirk disaster, however somewhat focuses our consideration on a number of remoted people and incidents to higher reveal the non-public horrors they confronted. Each member of the ensemble forged is superb: In addition to the aforementioned names, Harry Styles makes a distinguished debut as a distressed recruit, and Kenneth Branagh brings sturdy help as a naval commander overseeing the rescue operation.

When one baby-faced soldier returns dwelling on a practice, he’s greeted by a person who tells him, “Well done!” The child says that each one he did was survive. The man replies, “That’s enough.” In Dunkirk, victory is survival, which Nolan makes abundantly, thrillingly clear.