HollywoodOn Productions: Janet Donovan & Brendan Kownacki
Photo credit: Janet Donovan & Brendan Kownacki
“Dunkirk is an example of real people reacting to a real crisis, one where their whole country could have been lost and they responded. This is heroism above and beyond and I can’t wait to see the movie, especially because if Christopher Nolan is making the movie you know it’s good,” Senator Patrick Leahy (D.VT) told Hollywood on the Potomac at the DC Premiere screening of Dunkirk at the Smithsonian – Lockheed Martin IMAX Theater at The Air & Space Museum.
(second L-R) Senator Patrick Leahy, Marcelle Pomerleau, Cristopher Nolan and Emma Thomas Photo credit: Janet Donovan
Synopsis: “In May 1940, Germany advanced into France, trapping Allied troops on the beaches of Dunkirk. Under air and ground cover from British and French forces, troops were slowly and methodically evacuated from the beach using every serviceable naval and civilian vessel that could be found. At the end of this heroic mission, 330,000 French, British, Belgian and Dutch soldiers were safely evacuated.” Production
Photo credit: Janet Donovan
Neither Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Dr. Ben Carson nor Q & A moderator Jake Tapper had seen the movie prior to the DC screening. IMAX insisted on an in house presence for cinematic effect, so their comments are a general reflection on Dunkirk. “I know it was a heroic effort not only by the military but by a lot of the citizens to help evacuate the people,” Dr. Carson told us. “When I think about World War II and I think about the sacrifices that were made by so many families and so many soldiers that gave their lives so that we could be free, I do wonder sometimes what they would think now if they saw what we were doing. Let me put it this way, it would have been an incredible disaster if the evacuation had not been successful because they were hemmed in by the German forces.”
Dr. Ben Carson (center) Photo credit: Janet Donovan
“Well, it’s fascinating and it’s getting amazing reviews. It’s interesting because for an American produced war film there are no American soldiers, right? It’s all Allied European soldiers, British soldiers. It’s not a victory. They don’t win a battle,” CNN’s Jake Tapper told Hollywood on the Potomac. “They’re trying to get people out of France. As I understand it there’s very little dialogue, so it sounds very, very artistic and I’m really looking forward to seeing it. I know it’s an amazing story. In England they know the story. The Dunkirk spirit is a big thing in England but here we don’t know it, so a lot of people will learn about it. Also they were kids, you know they were 18, 19 years old.”
Jake Tapper and Christopher Nolan Photo credit: Brendan Kownacki
Director Christopher Nolan told the packed house as he introduced the film that while it doesn’t have much space, it has plenty of air and felt right at home in the Lockheed Martin IMAX theater at the Air & Space Museum. Nolan called IMAX a “great love” explaining his decision to film more than 75% of Dunkirk using the 70mm film in order to showcase the biggest and best aspects of all the scenes he was creating. Nolan says that Dunkirk follows in the footsteps of the iconic “To Fly,” the early IMAX sensation about flight that has shown at the Air & Space Museum every day since its opening in 1976 and that his visual approach was homage, trying to show an intensity of what it was like to be on the beaches of Dunkirk during the war.
Photo credit: Brendan Kownacki
The expansive shots of air, land, and sea perfectly capture the conflict of what happened at Dunkirk. The German forces had pushed the allies to the shore and were closing in their perimeter while trying to stop them from ever being able to escape, and it really does represent a miracle that a battalion of civilian boats, armed mostly with positive thoughts and a dedicated resolve were able to evacuate more than 300,000 troops in 10 days. The actions of the day speak for themselves and that’s what Nolan showcases through 3 timelines across the sky, beach, and water.
Nolan was first inspired to make the film more than 25 years ago while sailing in the exact waters off of Dunkirk where the film takes place and while among rough waters and cold conditions, he gained an admiration for those who sought out to rescue the troops in the evacuation, “It felt life-threatening, we felt dangerous. That was without people dropping bombs on us, we were not heading into a war zone,” he explained in a post-screening discussion with Jake Tapper.
He continued that the goal was to “really try and make a film where you get some feeling, what it might be like to be there” which is why the film is so immersive. Years of writing and planning lead to the largest marine unit ever assembled, some days with more than 60 boats filming off the beaches. There were real airplanes and thousands of extras. To build that atmosphere and to take the viewer back in time into this bubble of history, it was not about sensationalizing the war, it was about setting a mental scene. “When you get away from the sort of movie version of warfare and you really get into reading about what people actually saw, what type of action they saw, so much of what they were going through at the time was ordinary … it was shells coming in, it was mortar fire, it was these awful dive bombers coming in and … it was the sound of gunfire in the town coming closer and closer.”
Photo credit: Brendan Kownacki
When Christopher Nolan makes a film he doesn’t like to use CGI as a replacement for practical film making and he looks toward the silent era of film for inspiration on what story you can tell with the pictures and music and not just with words. The score by Hans Zimmer certainly adds itself as a primary character in the film, often times heightening the tense moments with well placed musical cues. “These are very old school techniques and in conjunction with securing a lot of access to real elements.”
Dunkirk has certainly captured the attention of critics and crowds alike in its first days at the box office, time will tell how this masterpiece ranks among the other films that examine World War II and an important part of our collective history.
Dunkirk has already reached critical acclaim and racing toward Oscar nominations. According to accounting reports Dunkirk earned $5.5 million at the Thursday box office, with $1.6 million coming from 402 IMAX locations and was pegged by independent trackers for an opening weekend in the range of $30-40 million, with Warner Bros.’ projections on the upper end of that range.
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