“1917” Review by Josh Davis
February 3, 2020 3:25 pm |
“1917” is unlike any film you’ll see this year – or perhaps ever. Directed by Sam Mendes (“American Beauty,” “Skyfall”) and shot by legendary cinematographer Roger Deakins (“Blade Runner”), the movie follows two young British soldiers sent on a harrowing mission during World War I to deliver an important letter to the front lines in the north of France.
Dean-Charles Chapman and George MacKay, two largely unknown actors, star as Lance Corporal Blake and Lance Corporal Schofield. They’re woken up and sent on a mission by General Erinmore (Colin Firth) to alert the Second Battalion of the Devonshire Regiment that their planned attack against retreating German forces is a trap. Adding to the dramatic tension, Blake’s older brother is among the 1,600 men who could die, if they fail.
Blake and Schofield push through the trenches of their own company and then carefully approach the German side of the battlefield, unsure if it’s really been evacuated as British intelligence suggested. It is deserted, but the Germans have left behind traps, including explosive tripwires. The two soldiers also find the Germans have destroyed their own weapons upon retreat, leaving large pieces of artillery and shells strewn about the ghostly battlefield. They have also murdered scores of local livestock to prevent the British soldiers from having any extra food.
The sets are both incredibly detailed and extremely claustrophobic, and Mendes and Deakins play with light and shadow as if they’re filming a horror movie. Entire sections of the film flicker from utter blackness, to scenes lit only by flare light or gunfire.
Our heroes must crawl through barbed wire, tiptoe through abandoned tunnels, swim through violent rivers, and pass through entire villages on fire during the span of a single day and night. Filming all of this as if it were one long, incredibly tense sequence grips the viewer to their seat and refuses to let go.
In one particularly poetic scene, Schofield finds himself surrounded by beautiful snow-white cherry blossoms in one moment, and then smashed into a literal sea of corpses in the next. There’s not subtlety on how “1917” views war: it’s hell.
Along with the stellar direction, camera work, and costume and set design, the two leads are fantastic, especially MacKay, who does most of the heavy lifting — sometimes literally. They’re entirely believable as two young men thrown into the horrors of a war, and their desperation only grows as they inch closer to the Second Battalion, desperate to succeed and to prevent any further bloodshed.
The sound design is also remarkable. You’ll feel each bomb, bullet and plane crash, further adding to the intense realism.
Mendes, in accepting his Golden Globe this year for best director, dedicated the film to his grandfather, Alfred Hubert Mendes, who apparently inspired the film.
“He signed up for the First World War. He was age 17. And I hope he’s looking down on us, and I hope — I fervently hope — it never ever, ever happens again,” Mendes said in his acceptance.
“1917” should stand among the all-time great war movies, and especially help fill a needed gap in World War I films. And if Sam Mendes’ grandfather is indeed looking down, he would no doubt be proud of the incredible feat his grandson has achieve with this absolute stunner of a film. In a word, it’s a masterpiece.
PCL Rating: Tupperware
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: FRESH 🍅
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