Dunkirk * * *

We, the people, the people who love non-linear screenplay more than anything else, the people who were knocked down by the likes of Interstellar and Inception, the people who owe their allegiance to House Nolan and the people who would bend the knee to Sir Christopher Nolan, first of his name, had waited long, for more than 2 years. I will be pretty blunt here with Dunkirk, it does not give you the complexity of Mememto or Inception, it is devoid of the character building of the Batman Trilogy and in no way it can match the spectacular expanse of Interstellar. But, it does offer something entirely new. The perspective of war without the noisy gun shots, bloodshed and stereotype heroics.

His earlier creations were mostly complex temporal conundrums, heroic manifestations or superlunary voyages. And each of them, irrespective of the underlying theme, was resplendent in itself, in all possible echelons. These moments represented freakish quantum of creativity and imagination. They were so convincing that at times reality wasn't good enough for us. Ergo, the cult and hence the baggage of expectations. And when it was revealed that Sir Nolan is working on a World War project, we couldn't help but speculate, the possibilities. But it is far from what anyone could have imagined. And frankly wouldn't be fair to be prejudiced when you go in for this one. So it is important that first you initiate Operation Clean Slate.

Dunkirk perhaps, cannot be classified as anything. Not a movie, not a documentary nor any other cinematographic jargon you can think of.  Because he transports you to the place itself and you no more can feel the comfort of the recliner in the multiplex. You find yourself strangled on that beach, thirsty and anxious. And suddenly you are inside a boat waiting for the tide but what comes for you is a bullet from nowhere, poking a hole into the oblivion of hope. Water splashing in, the air gushing out and the inmates struggle for survival. Desperation, depredation and ostracism. And the next moment you are in the spitfire dog fighting the bombers and watching over your vulnerable requisitioned civilian flotilla.

All that pre-release murmur about how Sir Nolan would structure a war movie was a sham. It is not a war movie. There is no war anywhere to be seen. There aren't any Germans around. This is perhaps best described as that moment between battles where you simply survive. And the entire length of 106 minutes is a celebration of that epic survival. Nothing less than a miracle for those 300,000 souls. There is no buildup either. Right from the first screen till the last, it is all intense. There are variations in that intensity but never a dip.

And perhaps rightly so, there is no characterization, you don't get to know who they are, what their names are. You don't get to make that emotional connect with anyone. You are never sure if the person in the present frame was the one from the last sequence. Because perhaps Sir Nolan wanted this movie to be about the event. It does not matter who they were as individuals. It was that moment that was to be understood and experienced. It was about those fearful sorties of those hawkish bombers, those untraceable U-boats and their piercing torpedoes and the inexplicable savageries of violence.

On the world premier, when Sir Nolan was called on the stage to address the gathering, he showed everyone this button someone gave him while they were filming on the Dunkirk beach. They told him they keep getting such stuff from the sands. Perhaps from the tunics of those who were stranded and annihilated. He was carrying that as a remembrance to those who made the sacrifice. And then what he told the audience is exactly what I have in mind for you all, "I would not ask you to go and enjoy the movie but go and experience it".

The verdict over the internet seems to be unanimous in calling it remarkable work. But I would share my reservations at the cost of being tagged as a cynic. Given the magnanimity of his previous works, I expected it to be more intense, much more detailed and full of figures to inspire us. There was disappointment on all these fronts. And hence, towards the end, amidst the appreciation for taking us back to history, I felt this void. Perhaps I should not have imagined Dunkirk from the lens of Interstellar or Inception. Perhaps the heroics of the capped crusader weren't even needed. The soul of it had sufficed, the Dunkirk Spirit shall prevail above all.