DUNKIRK

I heard about the phenomenal rear-guard action Britain had performed during the second world war when I was in high school. I was fortunate to find a treasure trove of old Reader’s Digest magazines in the summer holidays. I read the whole set of Readers-digest magazines published over 25-30 years. I used to start the day read them up till the evening and play shuttle badminton. That went on for two months.

 It taught me what stories are and an inkling of how to tell them. Reading that stuff has Left a lasting impression on me. The magazine also published extended versions of landmark historical events. DUNKIRK was one of such stories.

 It is not a victory like Normandy invasion, but a still more significant victory in defeat. It is about Britain on how it has conducted itself in difficult times.  It has shaped the personality of Britain as a nation.

The Indian press is agog with resentment, as usually, that there was no depiction of one and half million Indians who too fought in second world war and died retreating on the Dunkirk beaches. I forgive Cristopher Nolan, the director, along with the Indians who never had courtesy and respect for their men as soldiers. They never had a memorial or a Memorial Day. But I will venture to say that I would like to rename Amartya Sen’s book ‘Argumentative Indian’ as ‘’ only argumentative and selfish Indian. The cocooned and cribbing Indians never realise the fact- who cares if you see the movie or not. Entitlement conscious culture only makes demands and does not mind if it is reasonable or not.

Shifting from self-indulgent reverie to the movie, Cristopher Nolan is a fascinating director. I have become a fan of his. He made Interstellar, a sci-fi movie based on Quantum theory with multiverse and time reversal, etc. His storytelling is unique. He unveils a mesh of human relations in a historical reality with multiple canvases with a series of backdrops. Just like canvases we see in great novels War and Peace and Mahabharata. His sweep is just like Shakespeare’s. It is good to know that ‘Interstellar’ is a supplementary educational material for A level physics students just as ‘13 minutes’ (Bay of Pigs crisis with Cuba and American experience and perspectives) is for management students.

Nolan’s method of storytelling is, I think, if understood correctly, is postmodern. Postmodernism is in essence, as I understand, is having a primary belief, that a phenomenon is based on multiple pillars. The causative or supportive nature of those pillars is not-understood entirely. This fluidity has created a fantastic levey to the creative people.  Interstellar is a story weaved with strands father and daughter relationship time travel human effort as a species to survive all weaved into a beautiful tapestry.

When I went to see the movie, DUNKIRK, I was very enthusiastic to know how he will make a war movie. Will it be like movies LIBERATION, Stalingrad, Enemy at the gates, Saving Private Ryan or Band of brothers?

Would it be graphic like those movies or will he use some other format? Will he use some built-in love story or suspense story to rivet people and bring in the big picture? These are the potentialities and possibilities.

To my pleasant surprise, he had made it an entirely different way with different treatment. It seems he picked up the ignition from the war speeches of Churchill.

‘’ We shall go on to the end. We shall fight in France; we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be. We shall fight on the beaches; we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender.”

He seems to have picked up the points defending in air, sea and land. He pleated the human saga and heroism in the war in three parallel threads. Land, air and the sea.  The first story is through an escaping soldier’ running battle with the approaching Germans over the shrinking perimeter of defence. 

The second story is the Royal air force, SPITFIRE units giving cover to the beach-head, war, mine- sweeper rescuing medical ships and the all-important Pier for retreating soldiers to embark the ship.

The third story is of a father whose elder son dies within three weeks of war flying British Hurricane plane, embarks on a rescue mission along with school-going younger son. His son’s school friend makes a last-minute jump in into the yacht

Through these three stories, a fine establishment of what is about Dunkirk and its historicity, mood, depression and elation of those specific times. He made it less gory and graphical and more understandable with the ragged edges removed.

Created the aural ambience of the war of such dimension was another challenge. He created a roller coaster, constant threat and menace through industrial gonging and metal collision sounds, bullet flybys, Doppler raw sounds of approaching bombers, the rattle of machine guns, metal bullets hitting the belly of the trawlers laden with escaping British.

The surprising element is that he never showed a German face in the whole story. You have to see the Germans in the sounds and the expressions on the faces of the British. The massive galvanisation of the British society was established in high resolution through the titbits like a man handing over a couple of beer bottles through the train windows to the tired soldiers and a blind man distributing woollen blankets to the landed soldiers and kids distributing newspapers.

All in all, it is a sumptuous treat, and I think it will achieve many nominations for Oscars and probably award as best supporting actor to the rescuing Yacht gentleman from Weymouth and definitely for the background music score.  I will not be surprised if it is much more.

There are three ways of looking at things, products and phenomenon.  As a consumer, as a critique and as a co-creator. It is up to us which hat we wear. DUNKIRK scores highly on all three HATS.

-Matcha 31/7/17. The day after seeing the movie for the second time.