Two young British privates during the First World War are given an impossible mission: deliver a message deep in enemy territory that will stop 1,600 men, and one of the soldier’s brothers, from walking straight into a deadly trap.
It’s not often a war movie can keep my attention but “1917” managed to have me on the edge of my seat for the entire two hours. Thanks to unique cinematography, watching felt more like playing the part of the protagonist in an RPG game, which is why I found the drama so enthralling. If you cut back on the imagery, change a few names, and switch to the Second World War, the story shares similarities with “Saving Private Ryan,” though Sam Mendes offers a more personalized telling of the war with his stories and direction.
Two Corporals, Blake (Dean-Charles Chapman) and Schofield (George MacKay), head across the French battlefield to deliver a message to another battalion several miles away on foot. They must charge through No Man’s Land to save Blake’s brother and several thousand others from certain death but first, they need to arrive safely. The drama continues as the two enter peril upon peril, trying to survive the few miles to the location of the next battalion and stop an attack destined to go awry.
Though the movie starts with Blake and Schofield napping in a beautiful flower field, the two are soon low-crawling through ravines, entering exploding mines, hiking through German military sites filled with rats, dead bodies, and bullet shells the size of their head. The over-the-top cinematography expects you to switch from the first person to the third person to take in the full panoramic scope of the war-jungle of France in the 1910s. The nerve-racking journey the two endure takes a horrible twist, not even an hour into the movie harming their mission and possibly endangering the lives of hundreds of troops.
Along the way, the two friends hash out emotions with endearing rapport, showing how close the bonds of war can turn strangers into family just in time to watch the war ravage and plunder. Every turn creates new worries, which we must blindly follow in one long shot without stretches off in other directions. Though the plot remains simple and on track, you never lose interest, with the nauseating views of first-person dangers and dramatic music for added intensity, you want to witness every aspect of the journey and never leave the side of your new-found kindred spirits.
The landscape changes often, fueling the mouse-trap style dramedy, except its war and everything’s real and is possible in the scope of countries fighting for king of the hill. Yet, in just two short hours, more befalls the duo than seems even possible in wartime conditions who lose more and more with every step. Seeing just how brutal life was in the day in the life of the troops may help kids understand living without their phone for a day isn’t such a tragedy, although I wouldn’t take kids to see the movie. Never have dead bodies been depicted more realistically than in “1917” as the men, boys really, try to beat the clock for a nearly unthinkable mission.
What I love was the anti-climatic ending without fanfare or accolades. I’ve been active duty, and if you expect a pat on the back for any task, no matter how devastating, you are in for a surprise. The movie brings this war, fought just over a hundred years ago, back to the front lines showing its devastating impact on a new generation. It gives humanity back to those lost fighting with both honor, beauty, and the grotesqueness only the mass loss of human lives can produce. With a few cameos from Colin Firth, Richard Madden, Andrew Scott, Benedict Cumberbatch, and Mark Strong, all in uniform with realistic performances. Thought its Chapman and Mackay who make the story as the protagonists and their youthful mixture of naivety and caution.
The camerawork stole the show with sweeping landscapes, bunkers covered with sandbags and barbed wire, and other snippets of reality not often in our own view. One beautiful moment showed the intimacy war forces on strangers, such as a beautiful scene between Schofield and a French woman in a basement. For a brief moment, the war was gone like the eye of a storm. Other scenes like a truck stuck in the mud, drinking milk, or telling foolish stories about buddies, while in the same scope sharing intense plane crashes and cities on fire brought tragedy back to focus.
Don’t watch this movie if you’re not ready for complete immersion into the savagery of battle and devastation of lives clumped together in water like driftwood. There’s no break, just intense, agonizing pressure from an unrelenting environment with no escape set as if in real-time. If you can handle the terror, the movie offers so many rewards from a sound cast and directing; this is a ride, not a movie.
In Theaters Wednesday, December 25th
