Christopher Nolan’s World War II thriller Dunkirk is his best movie, and it’s now on Netflix

Christopher Nolan is just a few weeks away from the premiere of his latest film, Oppenheimermeaning it’s the perfect chance to catch up with his best: Dunkirkwhich is now streaming on Netflix.

Dunkirk tells the true story of the evacuation of hundreds of thousands of British soldiers stranded on the French beaches of Dunkirk at the start of World War II. With Nazis advancing from all sides, most of the British Army seemed hopelessly trapped, and the war was doomed – after all, how could England defend itself without an army, let alone fight for the rest of to help liberate Europe? But in the eleventh hour, a daring rescue plan was hatched to save the continent as hundreds of civilians sailed across the channel to help rescue their boys.

Since it seems like he’ll never tell another story directly, Nolan breaks down the rescue story and shows it from different perspectives and different time periods. We follow soldiers (Fionn Whitehead and Harry Styles) stranded on the beach for days, a pilot (an excellent Tom Hardy) who arrives for the climax of the last few hours, and Mr. Dawson (Mark Rylance), his son Peter (Tom Glynn-Carney), and Peter’s friend George (Barry Keoghan).

The story of the Dunkirk rescue is already one of the most incredible, fascinating, and miraculous moments in modern history, but in the hands of Nolan, it’s both panicked and inspiring. Nolan’s true trick with Dunkirkand the benefit of the multiple perspectives he uses is to show all the ways the operation was a massive logistical undertaking and an impressive feat of coordination, while at the same time being an absolute horror show and chaotic mess.

In Nolan’s vision of Dunkirk, the focus never leaves the ground and the individuals are at the center of the story. A much weaker adjustment would lead to Winston Churchill ordering the Navy to requisition civilian boats, or bringing in a general to tell us how important the military is to the war effort. Instead, Nolan gives his audience the credit we deserve and doesn’t explain anything. We are there with the soldiers, who don’t know if someone is coming to save them or not. When Kenneth Branagh finally appears as Commander, he clings to hope just like the rest. By the time Branagh helps us understand the bigger picture, it’s because he stays on the beach, hoping to take out the French soldiers next.

Image: Warner Bros. Pictures

This kind of perspective paints a stunning picture of Dunkirk and is the kind of choice that can only be made by a filmmaker as confident and experienced as Nolan – not to mention there aren’t many other directors who would commit finding real, working Spitfires to make sure the planes in the movie looked just right.

But despite Nolan’s usual focus on the scope and grandeur of his stories, they often require a little too much explanation to land with the kind of weight he seems to be aiming for – including in Basic principle, a perfect blockbuster. Of Dunkirk, no explanation is needed. We see children on a beach desperate to survive, we see a world at war, and we have Hans Zimmer’s incredible ticking clock score reminding us that every minute they stay, they are one minute closer to death. It’s gripping and clear as day, and the film never lets its focus slip from that. All the great war movies double as horror movies, and Nolan knows that simplicity makes things even scarier.