Set on the battlefields of northern France during the First World War, Sam Mendes’ 1917 follows two lance corporals racing against the clock to deliver a message to a certain colonel ordering him to call off an attack that would result in British defeat. Like Peter Jackson’s 2018 documentary They Shall Not Grow Old, which features colorized footage of the war and audio interviews of former soldiers, it seeks to capture the human side of the war and the everyday realities of a soldier’s life. The result is both technically astounding and emotionally powerful. 1917 is one of the best war movies of the past decade.
The most notable aspect of 1917 is Roger Deakins’ masterful cinematography. The film is comprised of long cuts seamlessly stitched together to create the appearance of being one continuous take. It feels as though the journey is unfolding in real time. The camera is immersed in the action, as if from the perspective of a third soldier, which makes it even more visceral and real.
The one-shot approach meant that everything had to be meticulously choreographed so that the set and script would be in sync. The level of craftsmanship on display is hugely impressive. But the film’s technical virtuosity is understated and never ostentatious. It is not a mere gimmick, as any other approach would have been less effective.
1917 opens with soldiers Blake (Dean-Charles Chapman) and Schofield (George MacKay) resting under a tree when Blake is told to “pick a man and bring your kit.” A general informs him and Schofield that aerial photo reconnaissance has revealed that the Germans have relocated to the Hindenburg Line, where their defenses are stronger. Unaware that they are being lured into a trap, one British battalion comprised of 1600 men—Blake’s brother among them—plans to advance. Communications have been cut off, and Blake and Schofield are tasked with delivering the message by foot.
The following sequence trails the two as they weave their way through the mass of bodies packed in the trenches. The portrayal of life in the trenches is very thorough and accurate. The soldiers in the film were played by a total of 800 young Englishmen (much of the film was shot in southern England) who went through a six-month-long training camp in which they were schooled on trench warfare and assigned tasks that were part of soldiers’ routines. They were also made to endure twelve-hour-long filming sessions so that boredom and numbness would come through in their acting.
After emerging from the trenches, Blake and Schofield proceed to trek across the bleak wasteland that is No Man’s Land. It is truly harrowing. At one point, Schofield slips and finds himself beside a human face—deathly pale, eyes gouged out, mouth frozen in terror.
Blake is unexpectedly stabbed in the gut off-camera by a German airman whose life he saved after his plane crash-landed. It is a commentary on the senselessness of the war. Schofield holds the dying Blake in his arms and assures him that he will complete the mission.
The most stunning set piece in the film is a bombed-out town lit by mortar explosions. The flares are perfectly timed and create a phantasmagorical interplay of light and shadow that has a nightmarish quality. The whole thing reminded me of Mordor. Of course, this is not a coincidence, as Tolkien’s experience in the war had a great impact on him.
In the town, Schofield dodges a pursuer by hiding in a shelter, where he meets a young woman nursing an orphaned infant. He gives her milk and supplies. The three of them are like a family. Schofield tears himself away from them before long, remembering the urgency of his mission. It is tragic, but it is also a testament to his stoic heroism.
Schofield arrives just as the attack is about to begin. He does not make it in time to prevent the advance of the first wave of soldiers, but the commander halts the attack and prevents further advances. Blake’s brother went in the first wave but survived anyway. The inconclusive ending is perhaps a nod to the moral confusion and uncertainty that arose in the aftermath of the war.
Aesthetically and stylistically, 1917 owes a lot to Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk. And as in Dunkirk, the Germans don’t play much of a role in the film. They are rarely referred to by name. Above all, the film is about two ordinary Englishmen and the hardships they endure in their mission to save the lives of their countrymen.
There is only one concession to political correctness. Schofield encounters another battalion soon after the incident, and a kindly Sikh soldier wishes him well on his journey. But this is a minor point.
1917 resembles Spielberg’s Saving Private Ryan in the simplicity of its goal-directed plot, but the similarities end there. Despite that DreamWorks produced the film, the jingoism and subtle pro-Jewish message of Saving Private Ryan are absent.
Movies about the First World War are made much less frequently than movies about the Second World War because they don’t allow for sanctimonious moralizing about the Holocaust and narratives about evil Nazis. The average person does not have strong feelings about the First World War. Moral righteousness is not popularly ascribed to either belligerent, in the same way that men like Napoleon and Alexander the Great are simply seen as military commanders as opposed to men who were either “good” or “evil.”
This is risky for Hollywood, because the absence of a good vs. evil narrative reveals the similarities between the parties involved. People might start to realize that the Allied soldiers who thought they were fighting for a good cause were actually betrayed by their respective governments and were made to slaughter their racial kinsmen.
But the lack of such a narrative makes for a richer drama. Instead of a one-dimensional moral crusade, we see ordinary men engaged in a struggle for survival. This has the potential to be much more moving. 1917 succeeds on this front. Its emotional impact matches the level of its staggering technical feats.
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9 comments
They are all copying Charlie’s War written by Pat Mills and drawn by Joe Colquhoun. Best comic strip ever made.
Trying to call off an attack that was already underway. Peter Weir’s Gallipoli had that too. I’m sure that happened in the history of war. What are the most famous examples?
The Bay of Pigs.
War movies have been getting increasingly petty–fetishizing micro events, usually with anarchronistically emotional pornography more befitting to modern sensibilities. It’s almost as if they don’t want you to comprehend the context of these historical events.
And a saved German pilot stabbing the nobel Briton who saved him is not so much a statement about the senselessness of war as it is a subtle npc reinforcement of the “germans bad allies good” conditioning.
From my viewpoint, gained by simply asking certain questions of the material I read and then continuing to read other material about the same things, to the point of tedium, I totally agree with you.
The pilot’s Germanness does not stand out. He represents a generic enemy, not Germans per se. But yeah, that scene did not sit well with me, frankly. Too cynical. The film’s nihilism befits the subject matter, but there are moments when Mendes goes too far in that direction.
While I quite often read the reviews and comments on this site this is the first time I have actually commented.
My grandfather was in the Devonshire Regiment, the regiment referred to in the film. I never knew him and my father had no recollections either as although he survived the WW1 carnage he died soon after. My grandmother insisted he died from effects of gassing. A total of 13,000 men and 750 officers passed through the regiment during WW1 and there is a memorial on the Somme in one of the preserved trenches that reads ‘The Devonshires held this trench, the Devonshires are holding it still.’
Returning to 1917, my wife’s grandfather was in another English county regiment ‘the Norfolks.’ The Norfolk Regiments were heavily involved in the battles of Passchendaele, 31st July 1917 until 10th November 1917. Amongst his effects when he died were three wound badges. To investigate further, we visited Norwich Castle where the archives of the ‘Norfolks’ are held. His last wound was suffered during an attack on a brewery at Poelkappelle in Belgium that was held by the Germans. He was hit by shrapnel ending any further participation in the ‘Great War.’ The irony here was that he came from a strong Methodist tradition and was teetotal. His family I expect were less than pleased that he should be wounded in attempt to take control of a brewery (even if the beer had long gone) Personally, I can think of no better demise. It was very moving to see the books listing the regimental casualties, war diaries, maps and orders of the day. It was possible to pinpoint from the maps the field in which he was hit all those years ago. That said, despite his wounds and travails, he lived well into his eighties.
While I haven’t seen the film, I endorse the comments of others regarding the inclusion of the stereotypical ignoble, villainous Hun, this time in the guise of a pilot. It annoyed me so much that I checked out the antecedents of the film’s Director, Sam Mendes. According to Wikipedia his mother was a Jew. Enough said.
“…the Germans don’t play much of a role in the film.”
Other than stabbing their British benefactor in the guts. I would have walked out right about then. Germans were probably the least likely of WW1 soldiers to do something along those lines.
I just saw it this weekend and it was pretty good. You might call it Saving private ryan meets Gallipoli, with a happy(er) ending.
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