For what it’s worth — and somewhat ironically — it might also be the most hopeful picture Nolan has ever made.
An astonishing war movie, and perhaps the pinnacle of Nolan’s various experiments in editing and structure. In retelling the British evacuation of France in 1940 — the result of an early, disastrous defeat against the Nazis — the director intercuts three narrative timelines of differing lengths, which leads to some surprising twists and turns in the story. But perhaps more importantly, it’s a film that shows Nolan willing to let go a little bit — to trust his audience to get what he’s doing without his having to resort to lots of exposition and dialogue. In the process, it does away with many of the clichés of the war genre: no strategy meetings, no scenes of people explaining what we’re fighting for, etc. Instead, it’s tight, terse, and tense from its opening frame to its last. For what it’s worth — and somewhat ironically — it might also be the most hopeful picture Nolan has ever made.