Christopher Nolan’s “Dunkirk” is both a heroic war epic and a disaster movie; it tells the tale of the evacuation of British and Allied troops at Dunkirk, France in 1940– also known as the Miracle of Dunkirk.

Nolan’s take on the events of Dunkirk is executed through alternating perspectives of those at land, sea, and air.

Through land, we follow foot soldier Tommy (Fionn Whitehead) as he tries to survive and escape the beaches of Dunkirk along with fellow low-ranking soldiers Gibson (Aneurin Bernard) and Alex (Harry Styles) to go back home, just 26 miles across the English Channel, but the journey home is tougher than anticipated with the threat of the Germans around every corner.

At sea, the as civilian effort to recover soldiers, aka Operation Dynamo, is underway. This effort called for civilian sailors, in vessels from pleasure yachts to fishing trawlers, to voyage across the English Channel and rescue as many stranded soldiers as possible. This part of the movie focuses on Mr. Dawson (Mark Rylance) and son Peter (Tom Glynn-Carney) who go to sea in an effort to save their soldiers, taking Peter’s naive, bright-eyed friend George (Barry Keoghan) along for the journey.

The air portion focuses on Spitfire pilots Farrier (Tom Hardy) and Collin (Jack Lowden) as they try to protect rescue vessels from the enemy’s aerial attacks, though at the time the Royal Air Force were largely ordered to stay away from Dunkirk. The aerial scenes of this movie are drawn out for added intensity.

What very little dialogue the movie contains is very powerful; the film manages to tell an elaborate story without the use of many words and instead submerges the audience into an eyewitness account from multiple perspectives.

The film was beautifully shot; from the scenery of the vast and hellish beaches, the dangerous but beautiful oceans, to the fast-paced action in the air, every aspect of the cinematography in “Dunkirk” was nearly impeccable.

Like any Christopher Nolan movie, “Dunkirk” was intense and dramatic, without a dull moment during the entire 107-minute-long run time.