Nameless Characters On a Beach

by Ryan Charles, senior reporter

Dunkirk is a film written and directed by Christopher Nolan. This film was beautifully shot utilizing many different angles, from the bird's eye views used to capture the beach filled with soldiers to the point of view shots used during the aerial battle scenes.

The plot was a compilation of different perspectives during the evacuation of Dunkirk beach at the end of WW2. There was just one problem, The characters do not have names. I realized this when trying to explain the movie to a friend, I found myself saying things like, “the guy who flies the plane” and “the English sailor.” This lack of development of the characters made it hard for me to fully engage myself in the film, and even harder to explain it to someone else.

The movie begins with a soldier stuck on a beach with many other soldiers. It is evident that these soldiers are evacuating but are having a hard time doing so. After many failed efforts to evacuate, we are introduced to a British fighter pilot who is trying to defend the beach from enemy attacks. He and his partner engage in a firefight with enemy planes and his partners’ plane is shot down.

We are then introduced to this father, his son and a young neighbor who are on their way on a fishing boat trying to save soldiers from  Dunkirk. They save the fallen pilot continue to save more soldiers.

The pilot in the air continues to protect the beach until he is forced to land after running out of gas and is captured by the enemy. Everyone is eventually evacuated off Dunkirk beach by local Englishmen with their own boats who band together to save the soldiers.

One scene I liked in the movie was the aerial fighting scene. The point of view angles that were used put you in the eyes of the fighter pilots times which I found cool and creative. The ending of a scene where one of the pilots goes down and lands in the water and then is saved by the father and his sons was great because it was the first scene that linked 2 different stories together.

This was a good film and if you are into war movies and don’t mind the fact you will struggle to retell the plot of this film, Dunkirk is for you. The only thing that kept this film from being great was the lack of connection you felt with the characters because of the lack identity given to the characters.