Potential inspiration (from Nolan's Criterion Top 10)
Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence
dir.: Nagisa Oshima
"Few films have been able to capture David Bowie’s charisma, but Oshima’s wartime drama seems tailor-made for his talents. Tom Conti has rarely been such a sympathetic guide for the audience’s emotions."
Not sure if this has been posted elsewhere already. I have to say that I didn't expect to see Jan de Bont's Speed or Tony Scott's Unstoppable on the list, but there you go.
Christopher Nolan curates season of films for BFI that inspired Dunkirk and most are not war movies
“GREED” (1924)
Nolan calls this Erich von Stroheim classic a “silent epic.”
“SUNRISE” (1927)
F. W. Murnau’s romance helped Nolan to “explore the possibilities of purely visual storytelling.”
“ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT” (1930)
Nolan cites Lewis Milestone’s classic as a game changer: “One look at James Jones’ essay on ‘Phony War Films’ (in which he takes down several of my old favorites) immediately shows you the perils of taking on real-life combat in a dramatic motion picture. In Jones’ estimation, ‘All Quiet on the Western Front’ said it first and best: war dehumanises. Revisiting that masterpiece it is hard to disagree that the intensity and horror have never been bettered. For me, the film demonstrates the power of resisting the convention of finding meaning and logic in individual fate.”
“FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT” (1940)
“No examination of cinematic suspense and visual storytelling would be complete without Hitchcock, and his technical virtuosity in ‘Foreign Correspondent’s portrayal of the downing of a plane at sea provided inspiration for much of what we attempted in ‘Dunkirk,'” Nolan said.
“THE WAGES OF FEAR” (1953)
Nolan referred to Henri-Georges Clouzot’s high-octane film as an “established classic of tension.”
“THE BATTLE OF ALGIERS” (1966)
Nolan cited Gillo Pontecorvo’s war film as “a timeless and affecting verité narrative, which forces empathy with its characters in the least theatrical manner imaginable. We care about the people in the film simply because we feel immersed in their reality and the odds they face.”
“RYAN’S DAUGHTER” (1970)
David Lean’s romance moved Nolan because of the “thrilling windswept beaches and crashing waves…The relationship of geographical spectacle to narrative and thematic drive in these works is extraordinary and inspiring. Pure cinema.”
“ALIEN” (1979)
Ridley Scott’s seminal thriller was another film Nolan referred to as an “established classic of tension.”
“CHARIOTS OF FIRE” (1981)
“The visual splendor, intertwined narratives and aggressively anachronistic music of Hugh Hudson’s ‘Chariots of Fire’ combined to create a masterpiece of British understatement whose popularity rapidly obscured its radical nature,” Nolan said.
“SPEED” (1994)
Director Jan de Bont’s pacing inspired Nolan, as it’s a “ticking-clock nail-biter.”
“UNSTOPPABLE” (2010)
“The relentless ‘Unstoppable’…explores the mechanics and uses of suspense to modulate an audience’s response to narrative,” Nolan said.
