Dunkirk (2017)

Is this the best film of 2017? So far, I'd have to agree with all the critics.
There are three separate plot lines in this film which takes place on the ocean in between Dunkirk, in Germany and the homeland of England.
One is on the land, involving a few of the hundreds of thousands of men stuck on the beach of Dunkirk, where they are literally sitting ducks. One is by the sea, where the British navy has commandeered all the privately owned boats so they can go and rescue the sitting duck army and the third is by the air where the British air force is busy shooting down the German planes bombing the men.
Though this story doesn't end in a mass murder or a mass surrender; the men must retreat, which is a dangerous undertaking and yes, plenty of men do die, boats are sunk and destroyed.
But the film is excellent, a great war film told on a large spectacle but they also make it intimate, without many names. For example, the main young soldier (Fionn Whitehead) is never named until the credits. He joins forces with another man who doesn't talk to save a soldier's life by getting him on a ship back home, only to have the ship destroyed by German bombs. It turns out that the other guy with Whitehead is actually French, not German, though Harry Styles (another young British soldier) believes that this man is a German spy.
On the boat you have Mark Rylance (brilliant) who insists on going to help save the men himself, instead of letting the navy do it for him. He is there with his son and his son's friend, George (Barry Keoghan), who man the ship. The first man they save is the shell-shocked British naval man (Cillian Murphy) who doesn't want to go back; he just wants to go home. Eventually, he inadvertently kills young George when he finds out that they are indeed returning to Dunkirk. They then save a British pilot just in the nick of time and then, when the stories converge, they save many oil-soaked men before the German plane crashes causing the ocean to burst into flames.
The film ends with many of the men returning to the mainland, ashamed, but they survived, and that was enough. They will live to fight another day.
Brilliant in every aspect, this film takes place on both an epic and intimate scale with excellent camera angles, Christopher Nolan captures the gritty realism of that experience without making it Hollywood in any way, which would have included that sappy love story. Sure, it would have been nice if women have had a larger role, but that was how things were back then. Women  appeared in this film solely as nurses. But the performances are excellent, without an action out of place. Despite the numerous roles, including Tom Hardy and Kenneth Branagh, everyone is pitch perfect in this almost documentary style film. Though this film seemed long, it took place over only three exhausting days. And this is easily one of Nolan's shortest films and also without a doubt his best. It is old-fashioned in some regards and that is lovely to see sometimes, without the over-the-top special effects. Everything is top-notch and in place with no false notes. Even if war films are not your cup of tea (they are usually not my favorite), this one will satisfy you without its super happy or super sad ending. Grade: A