OSCAR DAY: Dunkirk
Starring: Fionn Whitehead, Mark Rylance, Tom Hardy
Director: Christopher Nolan
Screenplay: Christopher Nolan
Cinematography: Hoyte Van Hoytema
Editor: Lee Smith
Score: Hans Zimmer
Films depicting war have a tendency to fall victim to melodrama, cliche, and style over substance. However, in Dunkirk, visionary director Christopher Nolan, puts all this aside in the pursuit of a film that pays the highest level of respect to this historic event. Here, Nolan utilizes every technical aspect (i.e. music, editing, cinematography) to take audiences on a rollercoaster of intensity into the hearts and minds of these men just trying to survive. From the first frame to the last, Dunkirk is gut-wrenching lurch into the horrors of war and the triumph of the human spirit. It is a film that belongs in the pantheon of the great war movies of all time with the likes of The Thin Red Line, Apocalypse Now, and Full Metal Jacket.
Academy Nominations:
Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Music Score, Best Cinematography, Best Film Editing, Best Sound Mixing, Best Production Design, Best Sound Editing
