Dunkirk isn’t just another war movie… It’s anything but that. Rather than tell the story of a war battle, director Christopher Nolan tells the story of the evacuation of Dunkirk, a real historical event. In May of 1940, the Nazis advanced through France forcing the allies back to the French beaches of Dunkirk just across the English Channel to retreat.

Nolan’s film showcases how such a small distance across the Channel became such an odyssey during the war. Due to such a heavy presence of the German air force (Luftwaffe) and military, along with a lack of British ships, the channel became a war hell and the British had to call on civilian ships to help rescue their soldiers. Luckily the 700 little civilian ships of Dunkirk successfully rescued 338,000 soldiers in the evacuation now known as Operation Dynamo. This number was much higher than the original goal of saving 45,000 soldiers. It also was a pivotal moment in the war, one that inspired the phrase “Dunkirk spirit”, an attitude of resilience found in the British.

More than just shining a light on history, Nolan’s film showcases the evil and horrors of war. Nolan shows the grittiness of it all. One early scene shows two protagonists sprinting with the body of a wounded soldier up to a departing warship. They’re racing to get to the ship before it leaves. The soldiers barely make it and throw the wounded man on. Both of the soldiers who carried the man are visibly tired, but right after throwing the man onto that ship the Luftwaffe bombs it and it bursts into flames.

All their efforts to save that man’s life were futile. And for me, that was the reoccurring theme throughout the film. War is not like Hollywood, Star Wars, or Call of Duty. When someone gets shot they can’t get a new hand or shake it off. Every bullet doesn’t always miss the good guys. War is arbitrary and war is ugly. War is hell.

After watching Dunkirk, Christopher Nolan was able to remind me and many other viewers of that fact: Dunkirk emphasized loud and clear that war is hell, and war should be a last resort.

This ideology is not commonly found in today’s America. Ever since World War II, America has interestingly become more and more active and aggressive in military matters around the world. How many lives is that military destroying? How many drone strikes are killing innocent Middle-eastern civilians? I can imagine a Christopher Nolan-esque film but instead of detailing the evacuation of Dunkirk it shows the evacuation after American drone strikes on an Afghan hospital.

After World War II and witnessing hell on Earth, America and the other Western allies should’ve become more peaceful and less aggressive. We should have realized that war is not a toy, but rather a last resort.