All 11 Movies That Inspired Christopher Nolan’s War Epic Dunkirk

If there is one director in the industry who can possibly do no wrong in his filmmaking, it is Christopher Nolan. Every time he comes up with a new movie, he crafts a cerebral, mind-bending, and sublime piece of art that is both richly entertaining and thought-provoking. From Memento to Oppenhiemer, Nolan has proved that a grand story and massive visual scope can be made accessible to mainstream audiences.

When looking at his 2017 anti-war epic Dunkirk, the movie won widespread acclaim for its realism. Chronicling the harrowing experience of the Dunkirk evacuation, the movie was shot entirely on location, with stunning shots of the shores, air, and sea plunging you right in the thick of it. With little dialogue needed, Nolan fashioned an experience that was truly breathtaking.

Unsurprisingly enough, Christopher Nolan deeply examined other films and drew inspiration from them before creating Dunkirk. The key pointers he looked for and admired in these movies were realism, massive-scale action, human characters, and a gripping atmosphere. The 11 movies on this list from history and genre fed into Nolan’s process of bringing Dunkirk to the big screens.

11 Greed (1924)

Directed by Erich von Stroheim, this silent psychological epic depicts the influence of greed not only on individuals but also on a marriage. It is adapted from the 1899 Frank Norris novel McTeague, and centers around a traveling dentist called John McTeague, who marries his best friend’s wife, Trina. Shortly after the marriage, Trina wins a $5000 lottery. But she refuses to use the money. Agitated, his best friend reports McTeague for unlicensed practice, leaving him in ruins.

Nolan Was Inspired by its Tense Atmosphere

Even though the premise has no similarities to Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk, the director felt inspired by its relentlessly tense atmosphere and all-consuming visuals. Nolan calls Greed “a silent epic.” He noted the up-close documentary-style scenes and strived for a you-are-right-there realism in his own film. Moreover, the movie was the first in the era to be shot entirely on location, with Stroheim having 85 hours worth of footage to work with. Stream on Tubi TV.

10 Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927)

Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans is a silent romance drama from director F. W. Murnau in his American film debut. As the first movie to win the Academy Award for Unique and Artistic Picture, it tells the story of a young and mysterious woman from the city who wanders off into a lakeside town. After weeks, she ends up at a farmhouse where The Man and The Wife reside.

She spends the afternoons with The Man, and they fall in love. Despite her many suggestions about getting rid of The Wife, The Man never budges. Perhaps because his desires and intentions are still divided.

Nolan Was Inspired by Minimal Dialgoue to Maximize Intensity

The movie has gorgeous cinematography and dreamlike visuals that almost dissolve before your eyes. Murnau for minimal dialogue to maximize the intensity of the experience, putting the audiences directly alongside his characters’ perils. Nolan admired the film’s ability to “explore the possibilities of purely visual storytelling,” and used the idea of having a synchronized musical score to go with the images in his movie, Dunkirk. Stream on The Roku Channel.

9 All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)

Adapted from the novel written by German novelist Erich Maria Remarque, All Quiet on the Western Front depicts the horrors of war as experienced by young German soldiers. An anti-war epic, it follows naive school boys who are led to believe that war is glorious and sent into rigorous training. Their transformation into hardened veterans, however, does not diminish the fact that they’re at odds with the grim realities of combat.

Nolan Was Inspired by the Dehumanizing of War

Lewis Milestone’s masterpiece uses fatigued and scared teenagers and their disillusionment as an unflinching means to prove a point. According to Nolan, All Quiet on the Western Front was among the very first and the most significant movies to say that war dehumanizes. He cites, “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.” Stream on Tubi TV.

Related: How All Quiet on the Western Front Shows the True Reality of War

8 Foreign Correspondent (1940)

This Alfred Hitchcock-directed World War II thriller is another movie that inspired Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk. It is about an American reporter working hard to expose the secrets shared between two European countries. As he investigates further, and as global tensions escalate, he instead gets caught up in an assassination plot. It is almost impossible to believe that Hitchcock’s breathtaking sequences and boundary-pushing techniques would go unnoticed by Nolan.

Nolan Was Inspired by the Suspenseful, Cinematic Storytelling

He once stated that, “No examination of cinematic suspense and visual storytelling would be complete without Hitchcock, and his technical virtuosity in Flight Correspondent’s portrayal of the downing of a plane at sea provided inspiration for much of what we attempted in Dunkirk.” For those who have watched the movie, Nolan has used a visceral cinematography and intense, pulse-pounding sequences to engineer an air of survival and mayhem in Dunkirk. Stream on Max.

7 The Wages of Fear (1953)

Henri-Georges Clouzot’s jaw-dropping thriller is still as celebrated and relevant in the genre 70 years after its release. The Wages of Fear follows a group of four down-on-their-luck and desperate European men who are recruited to transport truckloads of a dangerous and unstable nitroglycerin on a treacherous road for financial rewards too good to pass up. On a journey where the slightest jolt could mean death, the men mount on through the heat.

Christopher Nolan Used it as a Reference Point

The movie not only brought Clouzot global fame but also became a reference point for Nolan’s Dunkirk. He called it an “established classic of tension,” praising how it generates anxiety through satire and existentialism rather than irrational elements. His meticulous location work on Dunkirk reflected just that; the soldiers facing a terrifying time as the suspense around their fate built exponentially. Stream on The Criterion Channel

6 The Battle of Algiers (1966)

An Italian-Algerian war film co-written and directed by Gillo Pontecorvo, The Battle of Algiers shocked its audiences with its realism and deftly balanced dual perspectives. Shot entirely on location and with the help of non-professional actors that were present during the actual events, the movie is a depiction of the Algerian War, when certain rebellious factions decide to go against the French government in North Africa. From guerilla tactics to military reaction, it authentically captures the true story of the war.

Nolan Was Inspired by its Empathetic Characters

Christopher Nolan particularly admired how The Battle of Algiers “forces empathy with its characters in the least theatrical manner imaginable.” He calls it “a timeless and affecting verité narrative,” and explains its unflinching embrace of moral ambiguity and complex dynamics as an unforgettable experience. “We care about the people in the film simply because we feel immersed in their reality and the odds they face,” Nolan adds. Stream on Max.

5 Ryan’s Daughter (1970)

Starring Robert Mitchum and Sarah Miles, Ryan’s Daughter is a romantic epic that portrays a forbidden love affair between a young and married Irish woman and a troubled British soldier in the thick of the Irish War of Independence. Director David Lean, who is known for his large-scale epics, uses sweeping vistas and intimate scenes, framed generously, and uses them to unleash an air of conflict that ultimately tears the star-crossed lovers apart.

Nolan Was Inspired by the Film’s Perfect Location and Setting

Nolan probably drew inspiration from Lean’s precise handling of location and created a vivid setting to transport his own audiences. The immense world of “thrilling windswept beaches and crashing waves” fashioned by Lean was, according to Nolan, “pure cinema.” While commenting on the human aspect of the movie, he noted that the way “the relationship of geographical spectacle to narrative and thematic drive in these works is extraordinary and inspiring.” Stream on Tubi TV.

4 Alien (1979)

An interesting mention considering it has no parallels with a World War II epic. Ridley Scott’s science fiction-horror was long commercialized as a “haunted house in space” movie that transported its audiences to a spacecraft called Nostromo. When the crew inside receive distress signals from a faraway planet, they decide to respond to it. But to their disappointment and shock, they start getting killed one by one and the spacecraft becomes a claustrophobic game of tensions and fears as an alien invades the ship.

Nolan Was Inspired by Alien‘s Suspense and Hopelessness

In the same vein as The Wages of Fear, Nolan cited Alien as an “established classic in tension.” There is no denying the fact that Scott’s work is one of the most effective suspense thrillers of all time. The way it plunges the audiences into a chaos with no escape and intensifies the sense of urgency using jump scares is truly fascinating. Paired with Sigourney Weaver’s unforgettable performance, the moody thriller has inspired many. Stream on Hulu.

3 Chariots of Fire (1981)

Chariots of Fire is directed by Hugh Hudson. And while the movie is lauded as a brilliant sports drama, it is so much more than that. The premise sees two athletes – Harold Abrahams and Eric Liddell – racing for the gold in the 1924 Olympics. While the former is an English Jew wishing to overcome prejudice and barriers, the latter runs for religious reasons. The sweeping score and the themes of passion and determination make Chariots of Fire an inspiring film.

Nolan Was Inspired by its Powerful Visuals, Narratives, and Music

The movie was nominated for seven Academy Awards, out of which it won four, including Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay. Nolan was in awe of the movie’s rousing score and the portrayal of human stories. When speaking of Chariots of Fire, he mentioned how “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.” Rent on Apple TV.

Related: Best Movies About The Olympics, Ranked

2 Speed (1994)

Venturing into the 1990s, we have Jan de Bont’s high-concept, action-infused thriller, Speed. Starring Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock, it follows a dangerous man planting a bomb on a Los Angeles city bus. The catch is: if the speed falls below 50 miles per hour, the bomb will detonate. Reeves and Bullock’s characters join forces to save the passengers, handling obstacles and threats while maintaining the speed.

Christopher Nolan Loved Speed‘s “Countdown” Aspect

Speed is known for its edge-of-your-seat thrills and dazzling shots of Los Angeles. It is the execution of the concept that maximizes audience excitement and has them rooting against a certain doom. Summed perfectly by Nolan, the movie is a “ticking-clock nail-biter.” For Dunkirk, he aims for a similar experience where he creates a constant sense of urgency and shifts from aerial to sea scenes to maintain tension. Stream on Starz.

1 Unstoppable (2010)

Another action-thriller with almost the same concept, Unstoppable, is based on the real-life CSX 8888 incident. It is directed by Tony Scott and stars Denzel Washington and Chris Pine. The movie centers around an unmanned locomotive that is hurling towards a populated area. With no way to stop the barreling train and the catastrophic damage it may cause, two men named Frank and Will, who happen to be on the same route, try to bring it back in control.

Nolan Was Inspired by Unstoppable‘s Pure Entertainment and Cinematography

The cinematography of industrial and natural landscapes combined with a long heavy-metal guitar solo makes Unstoppable an entertaining watch. Far from what Nolan conveyed with Dunkirk, the movie is a clear inspiration for its setup of non-stop anxiety. Nolan himself calls the movie “relentless” and crowns it as a masterpiece for “explore[ing] the mechanics and uses of suspense to modulate an audience’s response to the narrative.” Stream on Fubo TV.