Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk is structured around three narrative time spans.
The three strands are titled “The Mole,” “The Sea,” and “The Air.” The Mole covers one week on the beach, The Sea follows one day involving civilian boats crossing the English Channel, and The Air follows one hour of the Royal Air Force mission.
Nolan intercuts these timelines rather than presenting them in simple chronological order. The structure lets events witnessed from different locations gradually connect, including the journeys of soldiers, civilian sailors, and fighter pilots during the 1940 evacuation.
The film depicts the evacuation of Allied troops from Dunkirk in northern France during the Second World War. Its main cast includes Fionn Whitehead, Tom Glynn-Carney, Mark Rylance, Kenneth Branagh, and Tom Hardy.