Review: 1917
1917, directed by Sam Mendes, tells the tale of two young British soldiers, Schofield (George MacKay) and Blake (Dean-Charles Chapman), given a daunting task: to deliver a message to prevent a massacre of sixteen hundred soldiers, with Blake’s brother being one of them. In a race against time, the two must take a perilous journey through enemy lines to save the lives of hundreds before it’s too late.
This is the latest film from Sam Mendes, who also directed American Beauty, Revolutionary Road, and Skyfall, and is also arguably his most ambitious film yet. The whole movie is banking off the fact that it’s made to look like one continuous shot, and as much as it seems cliched for critics to enjoy these kinds of films, it isn’t without good reason. 1917 is a technological masterpiece, and it’s really hard not to acknowledge that. It’s not only a technological marvel, the film’s story and characters also make it incredibly engaging even without the “one-take” gimmick we’ve seen many times in the last few years.
The film is based in part on Alfred Mendes’s story told to his grandson Sam, and it’s the fact that the story’s so simple that it works. There’s nothing complex about the plot at all; it’s simply two soldiers trying to deliver a message before it’s too late. You don’t need to add anything else to it. The stakes are incredibly evident, the danger is there, and the “why” is enough to get us invested. Time plays a huge part in this film much like 2018’s Dunkirk from Christopher Nolan, another war film I thoroughly enjoyed. But what makes this film in my opinion a much more compelling watch is its characters.
Unlike Dunkirk, these characters have an actual character. They’re not caricatures of other people, they feel like real people of their own. The two main characters’ backstory is fleshed out throughout the film, their personality is cleverly shown through dialogue, and George MacKay and Dean-Charles Chapman both play their characters exceptionally. There are a lot of big names that show up in the film for a brief second like Colin Firth, Mark Strong, and Benedict Cumberbatch to name a few, and not only are their presence not distracting they also give a pretty good performance in the very little screen time they have
The story alone makes this film a memorable watch, but it’s the film’s technological achievement that makes this one of the best of 2019. The cinematography is phenominal; Roger Deakins is the film’s DP and as usual he frames every scene in a breath-taking manner. Never mind the fact that the film looks incredible as one continuous shot, the lighting in each scene is pure eye candy. There have been many gorgeous films to come out of 2019, but this film proves that Deakins is a legend among cinematographers.
The editing from Lee Smith is also top notch; it’s never easy trying to pull off the one-take look, but this film stitches every shot together incredibly seamlessly. Thomas Newmans’s score was intense and moved the action along, the sound design was fantastic outside of a few hiccups (a rat falling to the floor is apparently one of the loudest things you can hear in war), the CGI was hardly noticeable, and despite not having many traditional action sequences this film is guaranteed to keep you on edge for its entire two hour run-time.
Overall this was quite the ride to sit through in a theater. It’s a filmmaking masterpiece with a compelling story to boast. If this sounds like something you would enjoy then check it out as soon as it opens wide. I’m glad to have seen it as early as possible as this is not only one of the best WW1 films but one of the best films of 2019.
Final Verdict: 9/10