1917 carries enormous emotional weight as we become a part of a single journey that takes us beyond the trenches of World War I and into the horror of its lasting reach.
The horrors of World War I have long been reflected in film, from the handheld camera footage of those men crossing the blood-soaked landscape of no-man’s land to the movies that came after. The innocence and bravery of those young people, women and men who entered the apocalyptic brutality of conflict have found multiple interpretations from Lewis Milestone’s All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) to the haunting Journey’s End (2017). Now, Sam Mendes continues this cinematic journey with 1917, exploring the innocence of youth confronted with the horror of war.
From the opening scenes, 1917 surrounds the audience with breathtaking energy and emotion by embracing the ‘single shot’ style Sam Mendes used in the opening scenes of his second Bond movie, Spectre (2015). Of course, the ‘single shot’ artistic choice is nothing new in cinema, from Hitchcock’s Rope to Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Birdman. However, in using this technique in 1917, Sam Mendes created a similar sense of emotion and terror to that of Erik Poppe’s Utøya: July 22 (2018). The result engulfs the audience in a breathless journey of fear, bravery and eroding innocence, further enhanced by Roger Deakin’s stunning cinematography and Thomas Newman’s score.
George MacKay and Dean-Charles Chapman play Schofield and Blake, two young lance corporals ordered to complete a journey behind enemy lines. Their mission is to deliver a message to another company of soldiers poised to launch a potentially catastrophic assault. However, this is a journey fraught with risk, as both young men must navigate a desolate land of bombed towns and villages and blood-soaked fields in a race against time. MacKay and Chapman are outstanding throughout, their understated performances reflecting the dying innocence of young men in the face of war. We watch as the youthful exuberance of their conversations slowly warps in the face of the true horror around them – Chapman’s Blake full of bravado slowly becomes a ghost in a boy’s clothing, while MacKay’s confident Scofield, who already wears the mask of a young man who has already seen too much, slowly becomes void of any emotions that may harm him.
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1917 has received minor criticism for what some have called a World War I rollercoaster ride. However, this criticism fails to appreciate the delicate script and quiet moments of reflection and humanity inherent in Sam Mendes’ film. Casual conversations are interrupted by sudden inescapable horror, from Scofield finding a young woman and child hiding in the darkness beneath a battered town to the bodies of soldiers floating down a river as the cherry blossom falls. These moments of silence and reflection highlight the true devastation of war and the mental impact of conflict on the individual. It is here that 1917 carries enormous emotional weight as we become a part of a single journey that takes us beyond the trenches of World War I and into the horror of its lasting reach.
Director: Sam Mendes
Cast: Dean-Charles Chapman, George MacKay, Daniel Mays, Colin Firth, Andrew Scott
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