This Post Contains Spoilers
The First World War is heavily underrepresented in cinema, which is surprising considering the fact that roughly 40 million people died, 32 countries across the world were involved, and it basically bred the hate in Europe (Germany) that led to WWII. The extent of my WWI knowledge basically is that Franz Ferdinand getting shot started it and the U.S. came in at the end of the war to help end it. I will definitely have to educate myself on it one of these days. WWII has had a million movies made about it…some of my favorites in fact, from Saving Private Ryan to Casablanca to the HBO series Band of Brothers. The only WWI movie I know I’ve seen off the top of my head is Sergeant York, and I can guarantee most people nowadays have no idea what that is. I did a little research, and even after checking out lists of the greatest WWI movies, I couldn’t find another I had seen, and most were made last century.
That’s why I was so excited to see 1917. I was extremely anxious to find out more about this major war that I know so little about. And learning that the movie is loosely based on a true story told by director Sam Mendes’s grandfather made it all the more intriguing.
Let’s Get To The Review
The movie opens on a shot of the beautiful French countryside, the first shot of a seemingly single take that will span throughout (almost) the entire movie. We meet two napping British soldiers, Lance Corporal Will Schofield (George MacKay) and Lance Corporal Tom Blake (Dean-Charles Chapman), who will be our central protagonists in the film. Blake is then tasked by a senior officer to choose a man and report to the general or orders. He chooses Schofield, who happens to be lying next to him. They’ll probably just be asked to chop some wood or get some food, right? Wrong.
General Erinmore (Colin Firth – and the first of several notable cameos) tells Blake and Schofield that they are to make a roughly nine-mile journey through German-heavy land to call off an attack that their 2nd Battalion is planning to make against the Germans. Oh, and Blake’s brother is among the men in the 2nd Battalion. “Why don’t they just phone the regiment to call off the attack” you ask? Well because those bastard Germans cut the phone lines. Therefore, they need to travel by foot to deliver them message.
Blake and Schofield immediately set out on their journey, which first requires them to maneuver through an open battlefield that they’re not sure has Germans on the other side of it. Keep in mind that WWI was dominated by trench warfare, and although British intelligence heard that the Germans had moved on from their trenches, but they won’t know for sure until they get to the other side. So, not knowing whether or not they’ve got a sniper staring them down this whole time, they have to maneuver through this open field (with very limited cover) cautiously. What becomes extremely noticeable early on in this movie is that the sets are incredible. I can’t imagine what it must have been like for the crew to build all the trenches and manufacture a WWI battlefield that truly looks like it would have looked in 1917.
While most of the movie is thrilling and full of action, there are no doubt slow points (a scene in which we meet a French civilian woman who is nursing a baby comes to mind), that are reminiscent of Dunkirk – a movie I found awfully boring and anticlimactic. Also, the British accents were tough to understand at times, which after watching Game of Thrones, I thought I would have adapted to. There were several lines critical to the plot that I flat-out missed because of this, but overall doesn’t take away from the film too much. However, that is just me knit picking an otherwise incredible movie. If I’m being honest, I would compare 1917 more to Saving Private Ryan than Dunkirk. That’s probably because the clear connection of “soldiers on a race against time” is the central theme that drives 1917, much like Saving Private Ryan.
And since it has been made such a big deal, I should address the continuous shot feel that the movie gives. Obviously, the entire movie wasn’t shot in one take, as it would have required a nearly impossible amount of coordination…but it still does a very good job of giving the effect. Don’t get me wrong, I was about 15 minutes into the movie before I could spot a point where they probably cut, which is incredible on the part of both the cast and crew. The screenplay for the opening sequence alone should win the film an Oscar, and in thinking back on what the process was like to shoot these incredibly long scenes, I can’t imagine Sam Mendes not taking home Best Director – putting my Bong Joon Ho (Parasite) bias aside.
In being able to adapt stories told to him by his grandfather, Sam Mendes undoubtedly captures the essence of what it would have been like to serve in WWI. What makes this movie so good is the nonstop threat of an attack. The Germans could show up at any moment, and being on their own makes it all the more exciting and nerve-wracking…even in the slower scenes. While not dialogue-heavy roles for MacKay and Chapman, they deliver superb performances nonetheless, which was paramount since they appeared in nearly every scene.
Rating: 8.7/10
Editor’s note: I also look forward to seeing Tommen Baratheon in more roles I can root for him in.
