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1917, directed by Sam Mendes
image from Internet Movie Database
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Can a war film be called beautiful? Because that’s the only word to describe Sam Mendes’ film 1917. That beauty is all thanks to Roger Deakins’ superb cinematography.
1917 tells the story of two soldiers—Blake (Dean-Charles Chapman) and Scofield (George MacKay)—who are tasked with delivering a message calling off an attack. Blake is selected because his brother is in the division facing certain slaughter. He chooses Scofield to go with him, seemingly because Scofield is the first soldier he sees.
In another film this might lead to friction between the two men and tell a story of them having to come together to complete an almost impossible task. But the script by Mendes and Krysty Wilson-Cairns is smarter than that. There is some quick pleading to think things through before rushing off into No Man’s Land, but they have a job to do. And, with that British stiff upper lip the two men head over the top.
I say men but both actors are so youthful in appearance that we’re reminded how young the soldiers in the Great War truly were. Even more than Peter Jackson’s remarkable 2018 documentary They Shall Not Grow Old, Chapman and MacKay simply feel too young to be part of this globe-spanning conflict. They should be home with their families.
The film does not shy away from some of the more gruesome elements of World War I. Bodies in various stages of decay are everywhere and some are used as markers by the other soldiers, a tragic detail based in reality. Other small details fill the backgrounds of scenes—stretchers lining a trench wall before battle, mud everywhere, dead horses and other animals, a dog mascot for a unit, and rats. So many rats. Rats were a fact of life in World War I. They were big and fat from gorging on the dead, and the movie even has a joke about their size.
That’s another aspect of soldier life in World War I the movie nails—the morbid humor the men used to help them through. One scene with Andrew Scott is quite funny.
But back to the beauty. It’s not all Deakins’ work making an unimaginably grim war beautiful. Mendes’ direction is also assured. Much has been made of the use of long, single takes throughout the film. I can't add any more to that discussion, except the technique works. Not one background is wasted. Like our two soldiers, we don’t know what will be around the next corner or over the next rise. The tension is palpable, but it never feels like a gimmick. We are right there with Blake and Scofield as they discover a well-built German bunker or search a seemingly abandoned farm.
1917 is stunning. A breathtaking, high-wire act that manages to tell a compelling war story without superhero-like acts of bravery or strength.
I decided to dust off my review writing skills from college. Back then I was the arts and entertainment editor for my university’s newspaper and often wrote movie reviews. 1917 compelled me to write more than my usual tweet-length review. I hope you enjoyed it.
