1917 (2019)

Director: Sam Mendes

Story: Sam Mendes, Krysty Wilson-Cairns

Cast: George MacKay, Dean-Charles Chapman

Music: Thomas Newman

Time: 119 minutes

Bottom-line: A thrilling war film and a technical masterpiece

Sam Mendes’ war epic is certainly one of the best films of the year, highly impressive in its narrative and technical aspects. Starring George MacKay and Dean-Charles Chapman in the lead roles – with several cameos by others – this (almost) real-time tale is based on the accounts of Mendes’ grandfather.

Time is the enemy.

April 1917: During WWI, General Erinmore (Colin Firth) briefs two young soldiers, Lance Corporals Tom Blake (Chapman) and William Schofield (MacKay). The Germans have strategically pulled back from a sector in France to their new Hindenburg line, hoping to ambush the British when they attack. With telephone lines being cut, the soldiers have to deliver a message by hand to call off the attack – which might cost the lives of 1600 men – and they have to do it by dawn. The journey of Blake and Schofield all the way to General Mackenzie (Benedict Cumberbatch) and the Second Battalion of the Devonshire Regiment is what the film is about. 

 

MacKay as Schofield

I hoped today might be a good day. Hope is a dangerous thing.

The most striking feature of the film is its cinematography. Roger Deakins used several long takes to make it appear as if the entire film is a single continuous shot. Now, even though continuous takes aren’t new (Alfred Hitchcock did it way back in 1948 in Rope), 1917 takes it to a whole new level. To shoot this much action and across various settings (you’ll notice that no location is used more than once in the story), being constrained to some level by technology and budget, is indeed a Herculean task. You can appreciate this fact much more when you see videos on the making of the movie – how much planning went into each scene, how the cuts were skilfully placed to help with the editing and so on.

 

Chapman as Blake

There is only one way this war ends. Last man standing.

Of course, the cinematography draws so much of your attention that you are likely to think the story was altered or “customised” to make it easier to film, but Mendes doesn’t compromise on the storyline at all. It is as gruelling as a war movie can get: explosions, plane crashes, burning buildings, corpses and even a waterfall – the film has it all. 1917 is essentially a tale of survival, and the fact that it’s narrated in real-time makes it all the more exciting – you experience everything along with Blake and Schofield as and when they happen. Look out for the dogfight scene and the one with the trip-wire.

George MacKay is the star of the show as far as acting goes, and he is aptly supported by Chapman. Pushed to their physical and mental limits, Schofield and Blake are men who go against all odds to do their duty. To me, it was also interesting to see Cumberbatch and Andrew Scott star alongside each other again, though they never appear for more than a few minutes and not together either. The acting holds the film together, while the action-packed story and cinematography build the wonder around the performances. 1917 is a film you shouldn’t miss. 

My Rating: 4/5

Rotten Tomatoes rating: 90%