When we were in our junior college, the war movies was a genre that was very popular but at the same time was an art form to reckon with. May be WW II was not far behind in the history and the memories of the sufferings, valour, bravery humankind were fresh, so there were plenty, who tackled War from different angles. There was much realistic 'The Longest Day' to take cap along with, out and out potboiler like 'The Guns of Navarone'. Battle of Bulge, Where Eagles Dare, Stalag 17, Von Ryan's Express, so many that depicted Allies to be the superheroes, nonetheless were very entertaining,1st criterion for any performing art but were 'Good Cinema' at the same time. Only one where the Germans were shown to be having the upper hand, 'The One that got away' too was a movie worth to watch for. All-time classic' The Sound of Music' too had the war in the background. What could be more poignant and heart touching, showing the kinder facade of Humankind than, 'The Schindler's List' which too was a war film with a difference, a huge humane difference!
Many of the above, were filmed in 70 mm format which was a novelty then. Stereophonic sound was there but the introduction of the 6 tracks, changed the entire tune of the sound system. To have the larger than life projection of the War, with its devastating armoury, sky-piercing warplanes, bulldozing tanks and ear-splitting explosions with an endless number of firing rounds, the format was not a gimmick, but it was an integral part of the movie to put life in the two-dimensional war on the screen! So it was a necessity! The train whistle of 'Where Eagle Dare' coming from a distant station still reverberates in my ears or the memory of ducking my head on ear-splitting whirling noise of planes as if hovering over you, of 'The Battle of Bulge' makes me chuckle even now!
And then came the IMAX! You don't watch it from outside, you are part of it! When we watched it for the first time in Sydney, at Darling Harbor way back in the 90s, it then screened documentary type of films only, for special effects! Helicopter ride on the screen gave me instant severe vertigo, that got relieved only by man-oeuvre they had shown at the outset. You have to bury your head in your knees, but it did not help my elderly relative here in Mumbai at Imax Dome and felt better only when he induced vomiting!
What better format could be for a film like 'Dunkirk' which is a quality war movie, than IMAX! The screen just speaks! And the director knows it, so it hardly has any dialogues. There is hardly any story for those who go for plots and subplots, with heroes, villains and vamps. It's a true story narrated almost in a linear fashion, few losses of human touches and it would have become a documentary on the big screen. But the director has his fingers firmly on the pulse of the genre, intertwines it with so many humane touches that some times you cringe in your seat by being a silent spectator to the endless human suffering, inflicted by other human beings! There is dedication, sense of belonging to the nation, longing for the home, patriotism, [a word much maligned in today's India], camaraderie,
The great 'Dunkirk Evacuation' was both for Britain,'Colossal military Disaster' as described by Mr Churchill himself, at the same time bondage of the common man on the street for the boys fighting on the front for their society, their country. On returning from the battlefields without any triumph on the hands, the boys are feeling down, naturally, but they get hero's welcome. When said,'But we only survived', answered aptly by the blind elder, 'That's enough !'
Around 300,000 privets were evacuated over 10 days, which again Mr Churchill described as 'Miracle of deliverance !' It happened in 1940, Germans were winning and the war had almost come on the doors of the UK and this setback! Americans were not in the picture and the UK was struggling hard to keep herself afloat. The despair, the palpable defeat on the anvil everything comes so vividly that at times you forget that it's a film!
The Imax screen just sizzles, not with oomph but with flames, torture, agony, anguish and the defeat. Endless blue waters of the English channel makes you so small because of the vastness of the screen and yes you become part of it! The seats shiver with the bomb blast and endless rut-rut of firings make you wonder 'How they might have endured ?'
It made me think. WW II was on the doorstep of every European. There was not a single household that did not have a loss on the battlefields. People suffered for 6 years, yet they endured with head held high and came brightly out of it, not only survived but prospered over a half-decade by sheer hard work.
If God forbid, it must not happen, but if there again is, a full-fledged war against China, not Pakistan, how would we behave? As Indians!
Many of the above, were filmed in 70 mm format which was a novelty then. Stereophonic sound was there but the introduction of the 6 tracks, changed the entire tune of the sound system. To have the larger than life projection of the War, with its devastating armoury, sky-piercing warplanes, bulldozing tanks and ear-splitting explosions with an endless number of firing rounds, the format was not a gimmick, but it was an integral part of the movie to put life in the two-dimensional war on the screen! So it was a necessity! The train whistle of 'Where Eagle Dare' coming from a distant station still reverberates in my ears or the memory of ducking my head on ear-splitting whirling noise of planes as if hovering over you, of 'The Battle of Bulge' makes me chuckle even now!
And then came the IMAX! You don't watch it from outside, you are part of it! When we watched it for the first time in Sydney, at Darling Harbor way back in the 90s, it then screened documentary type of films only, for special effects! Helicopter ride on the screen gave me instant severe vertigo, that got relieved only by man-oeuvre they had shown at the outset. You have to bury your head in your knees, but it did not help my elderly relative here in Mumbai at Imax Dome and felt better only when he induced vomiting!
What better format could be for a film like 'Dunkirk' which is a quality war movie, than IMAX! The screen just speaks! And the director knows it, so it hardly has any dialogues. There is hardly any story for those who go for plots and subplots, with heroes, villains and vamps. It's a true story narrated almost in a linear fashion, few losses of human touches and it would have become a documentary on the big screen. But the director has his fingers firmly on the pulse of the genre, intertwines it with so many humane touches that some times you cringe in your seat by being a silent spectator to the endless human suffering, inflicted by other human beings! There is dedication, sense of belonging to the nation, longing for the home, patriotism, [a word much maligned in today's India], camaraderie,
The great 'Dunkirk Evacuation' was both for Britain,'Colossal military Disaster' as described by Mr Churchill himself, at the same time bondage of the common man on the street for the boys fighting on the front for their society, their country. On returning from the battlefields without any triumph on the hands, the boys are feeling down, naturally, but they get hero's welcome. When said,'But we only survived', answered aptly by the blind elder, 'That's enough !'
Around 300,000 privets were evacuated over 10 days, which again Mr Churchill described as 'Miracle of deliverance !' It happened in 1940, Germans were winning and the war had almost come on the doors of the UK and this setback! Americans were not in the picture and the UK was struggling hard to keep herself afloat. The despair, the palpable defeat on the anvil everything comes so vividly that at times you forget that it's a film!
The Imax screen just sizzles, not with oomph but with flames, torture, agony, anguish and the defeat. Endless blue waters of the English channel makes you so small because of the vastness of the screen and yes you become part of it! The seats shiver with the bomb blast and endless rut-rut of firings make you wonder 'How they might have endured ?'
It made me think. WW II was on the doorstep of every European. There was not a single household that did not have a loss on the battlefields. People suffered for 6 years, yet they endured with head held high and came brightly out of it, not only survived but prospered over a half-decade by sheer hard work.
If God forbid, it must not happen, but if there again is, a full-fledged war against China, not Pakistan, how would we behave? As Indians!
