Christopher Nolan's Dunkirk is probably one of the best films of the last few summer's we've had, detailing the Dunkirk invasion and survival of British and French troops in World War Two. I enjoyed and appreciated the film so much that I went back to the cinema with my dad a few weeks ago to see Nolan's masterpiece again, and I have to say that a second watch felt like it was needed - there's a lot you miss in your first round, due to reasons that I'll get into shortly. But for Dunkirk, whilst there are many themes to get my teeth stuck into, the most important I feel is the theme of time. Time, is possibly the most important aspect of the film that effects it, and us in all kinds of ways.

The ticking of a pocket watch is heard throughout the film, as a backing to Hans Zimmer's amazingly done soundtrack. The opening few scenes set on the beach are intensified by the ticking, telling us that something is coming, and we don't have a lot of time to prepare ourselves, just as these soldiers do not. Then we see a German aircraft bomb the beach and our attention is clenched in Nolan's fist. That slow build up of ticking had taken us to a point where things are to intensify, as this isn't the first time we will hear this ticking. It's a constant reminder, to us the audience, to be ready, and be tense.

The film takes place through the perspectives of the ground, the sea and the air. We are introduced to these three with title cards over the scenes telling us how long these perspectives last throughout the events of Dunkirk, for example, the air lasting an hour. This is where the film may trick you at first, as each of these perspectives are told not in chronological order, but in a mixed time line. Cillian Murphy's character is found by Mark Rylance's character and brought on to his boat, without knowing how he got there other than he was attacked by a U-Boat. He's shellshocked and delicate, and is hesitant to go back to Dunkirk, which is the boat's main mission. We later see him, however in the ground storyline in which he tells Tommy and Alex to wait for another boat to find them, pushing them away. He's cocky and we don't like him for abandoning the boys, but we put two and two together when we realise this takes place before what we've already seen - and our ideas and thoughts towards him change. Time is important, whichever way you look at it.

It's not just the ticking that is there to remind us of what is to come. Tom Hardy's character, a Spitfire pilot named Farrier is constantly checking his fuel consumption within the hour his story takes place in, and writing down how many gallons he has and how much time he has. There's a lot of worry on his face towards the end in regards to this, indicating that time really is of the essence. When Tommy and Alex find themselves on a boat with a group of other soldiers, waiting for the tide to come in, time is deadly important. The waiting for the tide to come in not just for this boat, but for the rest of the British army as well becomes increasingly tense and we struggle in our seats as the tension kills us - will the tide come in in time for the boat to escape, or are they done for? The ticking of course, if you haven't already noticed, is still present.

Towards the final scenes, when all three storylines come together, time has almost run out, for them and for us, as the film heads for it's climax. Time is not just crucially important in the film, but also for Nolan as a director. He had been criticised for not making his film longer, going to similar runtimes as his previous films that were almost two and a half hours long. Nolan hit back at this saying that the runtime here was important for the story he wanted to tell. Time is something that sticks out so prominently in Dunkirk that it'll take you a few viewings to find everything. It's a brilliantly detailed film that really does something different to other war films. A unique theme for a unique film.