★★★★★

The story of Dunkirk is a simple one, an intensely emotional journey, but a simple story.  Its May 1940 and the Allied forces have been pushed back to the beaches of Dunkirk by the Nazis. The enemy is fast approaching and there looks to be no way home for the 400,000 troops trapped on the french coast. The command goes out for civilian boats of any size to be called into action to cross the channel and help with the evacuation, taking as many men as they can carry.

In order to get home the soldiers need to cross 39 nautical miles which is not as straight forward as it sounds, bombs are dropping from the sky and ships coming to rescue them are being torpedoed. The men stand in line waiting their turn on the beaches and down one long pier where one high ranking naval officers overseas the situation.

What hits you about this movie is the sheer hopelessness of the situation, it does not need violence or gore to sell the death in the air. What adds to the brilliance of the scenes playing out in front of us is the amazing composition of Hans Zimmer, he does one of his best jobs yet.

If this is sounding too simple and basic never fear Nolans here! As we follow severals mens journeys we are split between three timelines that intersect and move at different speeds. We are shown a young soldier (Fionn Whitehead) on the ground for one week, a yachter Dawson (Mark Rylance) on the sea for one day and an RAF pilot Farrier (Tom Hardy) in the sky for an hour. The end result is amazingly brilliant as the stories collide and the situation climax, a must watch for anyone, history buff or not.