Christopher Nolan Talks About Dunkirk And Why It Isn't A "War Film"

IMAGE VIA MELINDA SUE GORDON/ WARNER BROS

Recently, people have been wondering why Christopher Nolan’s new war film Dunkirk was PG-13 and not the normal R-rated affair we seeing from others in the genre.

Nolan has now given a simple explanation for his reasons behind the PG-13 rating in an interview with ABC News.

“All of my big blockbuster films have been PG-13. It’s a rating I feel comfortable working with totally.

“Dunkirk is not a war film. It’s a survival story and first and foremost a suspense film.”

Nolan added “So while there is high level of intensity to it, it does not necessarily concern itself with the bloody aspects of combat, which has been so well done in so many films.

“We were really trying to take a different approach and achieve intensity in a different way. I would really like lots of different types of people to get something out of the experience.”

IMAGE VIA WARNER BROS

If you don’t know much about the film or the story behind it, Dunkirk follows the evacuation of British, Belgian and French troops from the Dunkirk beaches in 1940 before getting surrounded by German forces. Winston Churchill called it “a colossal military disaster.”

Another reason why the film will be PG-13 is because it’ll focus on the characters themselves instead of the war elements and Nolan describes Dunkirk as the “most human movie” he’s ever made.

“What we decided to do was to really try and live in the moment of the experience, the very immediate and human desire to survive” he explained.

“It’s the most human movie I’ve ever made because it’s about the desire for survival. We wanted to tackle that and make what I refer to as a very present tense narrative where you’re in the moment with the characters.”

This is the reason why I’m so excited to this film because it’s not going to be bloody and violent, we’re going to know these people and it’s going to be even more heartbreaking and emotional when we learn their fate.

I don’t care if this isn’t a successful film in America, this is a truly British story, based on true events and hopefully, this film will do every World War II soldier and grandparent who lived through it proud.

Dunkirk stars Tom Hardy, Mark Rylance, Harry Styles, Kenneth Branagh, Cillian Murphy and James D’Arcy and hits UK and US cinemas on July 21, 2017.