Christopher Nolan Explains that DUNKIRK is Not a War Film and Why It's His Most Human Film Yet
I recently had the opportunity to see some incredible footage from Christopher Nolan's Dunkirk that completely blew me away. The movie tells an intense true life story from World War II and from what I've seen, the movie looks like a war film, but according to the director... it's not.
While talking to Associated Press, Nolan was talking about the PG-13 rating of the film and in the process, he explains why Dunkirk is not a war film:
“All of my big blockbuster films have been PG-13. It’s a rating I feel comfortable working with totally. Dunkirk is not a war film. It’s a survival story and first and foremost a suspense film. So while there is a high level of intensity to it, it does not necessarily concern itself with the bloody aspects of combat, which have been so well done in so many films. We were really trying to take a different approach and achieve intensity in a different way. I would really like lots of different types of people to get something out of the experience.”
The film definitely looks like it's going to be quite the experience and I'm confident that anyone who sees is going to get something out of it. The director goes on to say that Dunkirk is the most human film he's ever made, explaining:
"I feel like Dunkirk is such a universal event and it involves so many people that to try to encapsulate the specific detail of the human experience wasn’t the way to go. What we decided to do was to really try and live in the moment of the experience … the very immediate and human desire to survive. It’s the most human movie I’ve ever made because it’s about the desire for survival. We wanted to tackle that and make what I refer to as a very present tense narrative where you’re in the moment with the characters. You’re not necessarily spending too much time discussing who they were before or who they will be after."
This is an interesting approach because it doesn't sound like there's going to be much character development. He just wants to put the audience right in the middle of the action of what these characters will be forced to endure.
After seeing what I've seen, I believe that this could be Nolans greatest film and I can't wait to see it when it opens on July 21st.