10 Most Ambitious War Films Ever Made

Let's be honest, Christopher Nolan was probably madder than a wet hen when Speilberg got to film the Normandy Invasion while he was making Following on a shoestring budget. He finally got his chance to recreate World War II, in all its mayhem, in 2017. Dunkirk follows the evacuation of Allied soldiers in the aftermath of the Battle of France.

Nolan filmed on location at the site of the historical evacuation. He timed the filming to coincide with the time of year in which the events of Dunkirk occured. Nolan went so far as to time shooting the beach scenes so that the tidal patterns were accurate.

If there's one thing we all know about Christopher Nolan, it's that the man loves practical effects, and we all love him for it. To minimize reliance on CGI, Nolan had cardboard cut-out props made of soldiers and vehicles to give the appearance of a large army. Quick aside- this is a trick he probably stole from the Allied forces, as they pulled the same one to fool German High Command during the French Invasion.

Scale models of period planes and ships were 3D printed to stand in for digital models. Oh, and let's talk extras. If you thought, Spielberg's 1500 extras for the Omaha Beach scene was excessive, get this. Nolan employed 6000 extras while filming in France!

The production staff also located and reconditioned almost sixty-period ships to use during filming. These ships included a French Navy Destroyer, several Royal Netherlands Navy Minesweepers, a motor torpedo boat, and a Norwegian steamer. The film also used 20 of the original 850 private ships used in the evacuation, the Little Ships of Dunkirk.