10 Detestable Movie Villains We Never See

Christopher Nolan's masterful war epic Dunkirk takes a unique approach to dramatising the Dunkirk evacuation, by intentionally keeping the German enemy soldiers out of sight at almost all times.

The Germans are largely concealed within planes even when they do strike, and when we briefly see them capture Farrier (Tom Hardy) at the very end of the movie, Nolan notably keeps the soldiers firmly out of focus, ensuring they remain entirely anonymous and basically "faceless."

They're also generally referred to only as "the enemy" throughout the film, effectively dehumanising them and encouraging the audience to view them as a terrifying "other" who can strike at any moment.

This falls in line with Nolan's wider modus operandi here, to strip back conventional character development on both sides of the conflict and instead focus on the sheer visceral terror of the scenario. 

By depicting the Germans as glorified phantoms who slink in and out of the movie without warning, their presence is all the more unsettling.