Opinion: Is Christopher Nolan’s movie Dunkirk, white or wrong?

Christopher Nolan’s movie Dunkirk has got rave reviews, and to its credit it’s a brilliant, highly intensive and gripping portrayal of the trapped Brit and allied soldiers, on the beaches of Dunkirk. But was there anyone missing from his portrayal, and is it worth investigating?

I confess when I rocked up to watch the movie of ‘Dunkirk’ I knew nothing about its history; I was as innocent as the little girl in me, sitting on a bean bag reading numerous fairy-tales, to a row of stuffed animals. But I digress, I watched this film on the edge of my seat, and was gripped by the three strand story, which followed heart racing scenes from air, land and sea. I didn’t think of the historical accuracy, or about who wasn’t featured in-line with who was, I just watched like most other movie go-ers, yearning to escape for two hours into someone else’s world.

But what kind of world was this? A forgotten one, which omits the Royal Indian Army Force corps – one of the largest volunteer groups, who helped support the British Expeditionary forces [BEF] to transport supplies over rough terrain in Northern France, while the British and French were trapped on the beaches of Dunkirk – not to mention those African countries who were instrumental in delaying the attack of the Germans; or was it a world former UKIP leader Nigel Farage could pound his scrawny Brexit chest to a nostalgic – and seemingly British only triumph, of saving 338,000 soldiers from getting wiped out by the enemy. Or maybe, just maybe, we don’t question it, and entertain this portrayal as I did, in complete ignorance, with a dollop of Haagen Dazs ice-cream running down our chins.

There’s no doubt highly acclaimed director Christopher Nolan aimed for the latter, it’s certainly a ‘miss the mouth’ popcorn experience; I say that not wanting to take anything away from Nolan’s honorable intentions of making this film, but that his need to ‘address the story from the language of suspense’ is visibly apparent, and might I add incredibly successful. This veteran storyteller weaves a series of purposefully built images, alongside Hans Zimmer’s stellar score, by pushing near death sequences, which gradually escalate from a dull hum, or simple ticking sound, to something much more harrowing. The relationship between image and score works well throughout, most memorably in the scene where two soldiers are running against jarring Hitchcock-type strings, carrying an injured man on a stretcher, rushing to board a ship of evacuees, in the hopes of fleeing 1940’s Dunkirk.

In his own words Nolan was on the pursuit of a particular image in this case the faceless kind, so those of you who have yet to see Dunkirk, please push aside any prospect of seeing One Directions dreamy Harry Styles, propping it all up with his well-formed quiff. The subject of ‘suspense’ out rules character driven roles here, with Nolan keeping the script sparse and the tension high.

This faceless physiological warfare is what Nolan repetitively teases us with, so much so we’re not even privy to seeing a single German soldier, and it’s this helpless notion of feeling like you’re watching sitting ducks, from a not too luxurious cinema chair in North London, that’s compelling to watch, which is partly why Dunkirk is a cracking piece of work, there’s no unrealistic CGI, or hammed up dramatic war type script, it’s just close and tight, where survival is key.

But I wonder, if Nolan’s pursuit of that particular ‘image’ could have been given more air time, to show a truer representation of who those allies actually were, and what they actually did, just as he showed with his white counter parts during ‘Operation Dynamo’.

I understand that not everyone’s story can be told, but this isn’t just any old story this is a well-documented historical ‘miracle’, one where so many were saved, when they could have easily been left for dead – and if we’re talking about ‘images’ the Tunisian, Moroccan, Algerian, Indian even the French soldiers could have been better represented, not because it’s politically correct, but because they were there too.

The fact is Nolan and the rest of us know how powerful film can be, it usually starts with those big, dirty staccato rhythms used in trailers nowadays, accenting every memorable scene to the degree, only a Britney Spears music video could be proud of. Your eyes then open widely, as you try to get your money’s worth of paying an extortionate amount for the privilege, and if your name ends with Nolan, you’re sure to get bums on seats. However, if you set out to make a historical film, you have a responsibility to show that well rounded ‘image’ of who was out there in battle, getting their hands dirty and saving lives. Otherwise, the impression you leave with is exactly what those fairy-tale books had on me when I was a child, all white, all Western and all non-willing to change the record.

Let’s not keep making the same dangerously single story, when there are so many overlooked gems out there.