“Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk is a tremendous and thoughtful examination of a signal drama of the Second World War: the 1940 water evacuation of nearly 340,000 endangered Allied soldiers from the Nazi-encircled beaches of the French port city.
“The film delivers a you-are-there sensation that approaches the immersive qualities of virtual reality. Nolan admirably succeeds in his expressed intention to depict the Dunkirk evacuation as an improvised struggle for survival rather than the planned military manoeuvre its code-name Operation Dynamo implied.
“Nolan keeps the dialogue, names and personal histories of the participants to an absolute minimum — and what snatches of conversation we do get are often muddled or abruptly terminated, true to the frantic circumstances of the historic eight-day siege.
“Dunkirk is a far remove from the standard Hollywood war film. There are numerous acts of heroism and also apparent cowardice — but how meaningful are these terms when applied to the many random life-or-death calculations made in the fog of war?
“Unlike most war movies, Dunkirk invites us to reflect upon armed conflict rather than celebrate it.” Toronto Star