From the way it’s filmed behind the soldiers we immediately wonder where they’re going. The wide angled shot displays the short number of men walking together and makes us question how and why they find themselves wandering the empty streets of Dunkirk. The beautiful image of the paper/debris falling around them seems quite elegant and we then appreciate the cinematography of the scene. We get a description of the situation they're in, in intervals they bring up more writing saying “trapped at Dunkirk, they await their fate” which foreshadows the upheaval to come .The sudden attack of gun shots then grabs our attention as we watch the men fall one by one. We are eager to see who makes it out alive. As the camera follows the soldier who did, we’re now set on him staying alive, we’re relieved to see that after a fair amount of running, they're not an enemy.
Given the title of the film we can guess it's set in Dunkirk. Those who know their history would know the true story of Dunkirk and that it was set in 1940 during the second World War. They walk around the empty streets and after the shooting the soldier then finds himself on a beach.
The tone begins quite peacefully, with each man looking relaxed- they look as though they’re lost or awaiting orders. One of them is drinking water out of a hose and the other is picking up a flyer with ‘we surround you’ on it, so we feel slightly alarmed as we guess it’s aimed at them. The tone then switches to an intense, fast moving sequence where the men are then vulnerable. The war genre is made clear from the beginning as it’s a historical event we know took place in Dunkirk. The costumes- army combat uniform also clearly show us the genre.
What connotations show us it’s a war film:
The short camera duration when he’s running and his friends are getting shot
The tracking camera movement when he runs towards the french base is very war film-like
When the boys get shot the camera moves past them not taking much notice of the lives just lost which tells us that they’re used to people dying too frequently as it’s war.
The sound effects of the gun shots
It’s very quiet at the beginning, only the ambient sounds of picking up helmets, the paper sound of the flyers
No soundtrack, makes it very realistic - reminds us it’s a true story
Their costumes
We don't get to know much about the characters since they die so soon, however the one that makes it over that gate seems as though he’s going to play a big part in the movie. He looks young and afraid, as most boys were as young as 15 in WWII. We watch him struggle under pressure with his gun, as if fear has taken over him and he decides to run. He seems like he is fit and fast so I'm guessing he uses that to his advantage. As he stands before the beach he looks vulnerable again. I wonder if in the rest of the movie we will watch his character develop and become a great soldier. The storyline seems obvious as we know the story of Dunkirk, however I'm guessing they will go into depth on the characters and show us different people's side of the story and show us things that we had no idea about before.
I believe it's successfully conveyed the War genre and began the movie in an engaging, interesting format making us want to watch more. I haven’t seen the movie and I look forward to seeing how they display the happenings at Dunkirk.
No comments:
Post a Comment