Dunkirk - Nolan-style

We saw the new movie directed by Christopher Nolan, Dunkirk, at the weekend. I'd wavered, and wondered, and tossed up whether or not to put ourselves through 1 hour and 47 minutes of cinematic tension and chaos which, from the couple of reviews I'd read seemed to describe what was on offer. Eventually, the chance to exchange the computer screen for a cinema screen, for a while, and to swap home air conditioning for a place even cooler (cold in fact) won the toss. We were two of just eight audience members in a late afternoon showing of the film. Movies about British war efforts are obviously not a big draw in semi-rural Oklahoma, at least not with so many super-hero tales, ape wars, and Despicable Me as alternative options.

My immediate reactions on leaving the theatre, into the car park and 90 degree heat:
"It was flippin' cold in there."
"They had turned the sound up so loud that I [English-born though I am] couldn't understand much of the dialogue."
And, my major criticism - of the movie, rather than of the surrounding discomforts was this:
The key element to the story of Dunkirk, as I have always known it, was the amazing rescue and evacuation effort, a major part of which was carried out by small vessels, fishing boats, yachts, pleasure boats, ferry-type craft, manned by non-military people who sailed into those very dangerous waters. Yes I know this is, obviously, part of the film's story - it has to be. However, the movie's rather "arthouse" arty farty Nolan feel features what I suppose are simply representative examples of the story's components, told in an interwoven, three-strand style, to show how the rescue played out on land, in the air, and by sea. I found that the scale of the soldiers' plight was much better represented than the scale of the small boat-aided rescue. The "sea" segment of the film concentrated on just one small boat and its crew, and those it rescued (on just a single trip). We see just one screen shot of the veritable armada of small boats and ships approaching the beach - from a great distance; later a shot of just a few small boats arriving is included - an almost throw-away shot at that! I came away with the feeling that when the film is seen by those who do not know the full story of Dunkirk - most of the generations much younger than me, and quite a few from all generations in the USA - that they could come away from the film with an unbalanced idea of exactly what went on.

There's plenty of information on the internet as to exact statistics, and detail of the events of the Dunkirk evacuation, what led up to it, and what came after. I shall not repeat such detail here, except to copy this paragraph from Wikipedia's page:

On the first day of the evacuation, only 7,669 men were evacuated, but by the end of the eighth day, 338,226 soldiers had been rescued by a hastily assembled fleet of over 800 boats. Many of the troops were able to embark from the harbour's protective mole [a kind of pier] onto 39 British destroyers of the Royal Navy and civilian merchant ships, while others had to wade out from the beaches, waiting for hours in the shoulder-deep water. Some were ferried from the beaches to the larger ships by what came to be known as the little ships of Dunkirk, a flotilla of hundreds of merchant marine boats, fishing boats, pleasure craft, yachts, and lifeboats called into service from Britain for the emergency. The B[ritish]E[xpeditionary]F[orce] lost 68,000 soldiers during the French campaign and had to abandon nearly all of its tanks, vehicles, and other equipment.

There are countless reviews of the movie online now. I read through several after seeing the film. They mostly repeat the same points, but fighting my way through multiple sliding and very annoying adverts, into the farther reaches of Google, I found what I consider to be one of the most insightful reviews of Dunkirk, it was written by "Darren" at The Movie Blog. If a passing reader has already seen the movie, or is planning to do so, I'd highly recommend a look at that review.

We were glad to have seen Dunkirk, even though it appeared to me, and to my American husband, who was aware of the events told of in Dunkirk, to be an unbalanced style of telling one of World War 2's most iconic British stories. What was shown was wonderfully atmospheric, affecting and scary, even other-worldly at times. I've read that the best way of seeing this movie is via IMAX huge screen - but our local cinema's screen was quite big enough for our taste, and even its level of sound proved too loud for our delicate ears!

POSTSCRIPT (for any interested in astrology)

Dunkirk's director, Christopher Nolan, was astrologically investigated in my post from 2012 HERE (scroll down to the post's second half).

An Artist & A Film Director with Birthdays on 30 July: Soraida Martinez & Christopher Nolan

Two artists of different genres, both born 30 July, the painter in 1956, in New York City; the movie director in 1970, in London, UK.

The painter first:

Soraida Martinez, born in New York and of Puerto Rican background, she studied art and psychology at Rowan University, specialising in design. In 1996, she was appointed by the governor to a seat on the New Jersey State Council on the Arts. She developed a thought-provoking art style come to be known as Verdadism, addressing sexism, racism, and stereotyping, with the aim of promoting tolerance and social change. (Verdad in Spanish = truth). The style is defined by juxtaposition of figurative abstract paintings with written social commentaries.

Socially conscious, social commentary...which astrological factors are likely to show up?

I thought first (wrongly as it happens) of Aquarius, then its ruler, Uranus. Nothing in the chart emphasises Aquarius (apart from Chiron), unless Aquarius were rising as she came into the world, we cannot know this without a time of birth. But look at rebel planet Uranus sitting just 5 degrees from natal Leo Sun! Venus (art) in Gemini is in close harmonious trine to Neptune (imagination, creativity), and in helpful sextile to powerhouse Pluto in Leo - all at 27 degrees of their signs. Sun conjunct Uranus best represents this artist though.

Here are just a few examples of Soraida's work, more can be seen in the Gallery section of her website
Soraida.com

The Terror Of Demasking Oneself

"In this society, we have been conditioned to be what people want us to be. We - as individuals - are afraid to be individuals. That's because American society, which is based on democracy, is actually not so open-minded when it comes to new ideas or different races. And, as human beings, we all know that; therefore, many of us have the terror of demasking ourselves. Most of us would rather die than let someone really know us...perhaps, because of the fear of rejection or a lack of awareness. So we live a 'so-so' life: never being ourselves; sleeping and wearing our daily masks; always afraid of being awaken."

Rage: It's My Body

"At a point in my life, I kept hearing politicians making decisions about abortion, sexual harassment and other issues about women. Most of them were men. Men telling women what to do with their bodies and men making decisions for women. What I felt was anger. How dare they not even include women in these choices. The tear in the female mask of Rage shows the pain and anger of living in a male dominated society that keeps women from making their own choices. The band across the neck is a man's red necktie which holds the woman in place and stifles her being. The red color represents a woman's blood as it is sucked out of her soul. The blocked hands depict the obstacles that are put before women. Rage: It's My Body is a painting about the violation of the female human spirit."

Guitar Player: A Symbol Of Hope

"When I was nine years old, I visited family who lived along the Puerto Rican Mountainside where I remember seeing the "cuatro" being played by many Puerto Ricans and I thought to myself that music was played everywhere to symbolize hope. Guitar Player: A Symbol Of Hope depicts the hope that we are all born with. Even though by the age of forty most of us have already lost that hope, Guitar Player is the embodiment of that desire to regain lost hope. The whites of the eyes of Guitar Player are able to penetrate deep into your soul to make a connection with your lost hope. The guitar itself is reminiscent of the everlasting, ringing sound that soothes us when there is hope and haunts us when there's no hope."

Second subject born on 30 July is Christopher Nolan, Anglo-American movie director whose recently released film The Dark Knight Rises became a tragic backdrop for multiple murders and injuries in an Aurora, Colorado cinema just a week ago. The movie is last of a Batman trilogy, and reportedly portrays a decidedly dark and violent version of the vintage comic book superhero. I haven't seen even one Batman film, ever, so am unqualified to comment on content. I saw another of Nolan's movies some months ago, Inception - found the plot difficult to follow.







No birth time is known, so 12 noon version of the chart is used. Rising sign and exact Moon degree will not be as shown.

In Nolan's case Leo Sun is conjunct Mars indicating energy, confidence and potential for an occasionally confrontational attitude. In Ms Martinez' case her Leo Sun was conjunct Uranus, so here's one important difference, another is that her Neptune was in Libra, Nolan's in Scorpio.

Unless born between midnight and 1:00 AM Nolan's natal Moon would have been in early Cancer - the sign ruled by the Moon. Cancerian sensitivity and intuition will play an important part in his nature, though will likely conflict at times with that poweful Sun/Mars in Leo.

Neptune is the planet astrologers link to film, photography and movies. Here Neptune is at 28 degrees of Scorpio, a sign known for darkness and even sometimes representing death. There's a chain of linked aspects leading from Neptune: Jupiter (publication, excess) at 28 Libra is in semi-sextile to Neptune; Pluto (Scorpio's ruler) is at 25 Virgo and conjunct Venus (planet of the arts at 20 Virgo)both sextile to Neptune; then Mercury (communication and mental orientation)is at 28 Leo squaring Neptune; Saturn at 21 Taurus opposes Neptune........So that "chain" links by one kind of aspect or another planets representing film, darkness, art, communication, publication - an apt "chain" for a movie creator, especially a movie creator able to produce films such as the Batman trilogy - "chick-flicks" are certainly not, and will likely never be, part of Mr. Nolan's reperetoire.