1917

You Only Get One Shot 

‘Never such innocence again’ wrote poet Philip Larkin of the impact World War 1 had on the collective human consciousness. It was an event that would forever change the course of history, marking the point at which mankind perhaps first became aware of its own potential to cause catastrophic destruction on a global scale.  

Because of its fundamentality in western culture The Great War has been covered many times in film, with classics like Paths of Glory, All Quiet on the Western Front, Gallipoli and more recently, War Horse. With 1917, director Sam Mendez once again takes us into the trenches, creating something of such unique scope and dimension that is not only an exhilarating, hugely affecting and adequately sombre experience, but one that may actually turn out to be the defining war film of this generation. 

The central draw is that the film is captured and edited in a way as to appear as one entire, single tracking shot. Though the tracking shot itself is not a new technique in filming, creating a whole blockbuster film around this technique is somewhat of an industry first. Involving months and months of intricate and detailed planning, rehearsals and organisation, this incredibly ambitious conceit is exactly what makes 1917 so incredibly effective and memorable.  

No longer being a passive, removed and omnipotent observer the viewer becomes much more involved in the film. There is no momentary escape between frame cutting and the audience remains fixed to the action. The result is almost documentary like in its intensity and immediacy. The connection to the main characters; two young soldiers named Scofield and Blake, played by George MacKay and Dean-Charles Champman is amplified too, as we follow them on their journey across the German frontline to call off an allied attack, certain to be a massacre. Every moment of dread, devastation and horror they experience is heightened and as such 1917 goes some way to blurring the line between film and a theme park ride. It is that visceral.    

The film is beautifully shot with cinematographer Roger Deakins on top form. One section, around two thirds of the way through where Scofield traverses at night through a bombed out town, trying to evade German soldiers whilst flares illuminate the decimated surroundings is one of the most visually stunning set pieces of recent years. The production design is quality, though if allowed to nit-pick, everyone still looks a bit too clean despite having existed for months on end in narrow, cramped and muddy trenches (but still a marked improvement on the relatively spotless uniforms of Dunkirk). As you might expect the horror is here in abundance too, though of a more foreboding and disturbing kind, with the human cost of the war everywhere apparent as the characters make their way through the landscape full of decay and ruin.    

1917 isn’t all entirely seamless however and the discerning among the audience will spot or even be looking out for where a cut has to have been made. Nevertheless, on the whole the tracking technique adds to the creation of a great level of authenticity, with countless little asides and background dialogue which contributes to the richness of each moment and makes the film feel that much more alive.  

Despite the groundbreaking filmic technique, 1917 wouldn’t work half as well as it does without its characters; chiefly that of the central protagonist Lance Corporal Scofield. Scofield is a young survivor of the Somme, consumed with a bitterness about the toll war has taken, causing him to throw way his medal of honour and dread going home on leave, despite it being the thing that he, and all his brothers in arms desperately want. 

MacKay, not an absolute beginner to war movies - infact having played a soldier in the movie ‘Private Peaceful’ - is brilliant as Scofield, his ghostly features making him look like a face right out of those old WW1 photographs. Alongside the actor appearances from Colin Firth, Mark Strong and Benedict Cumberbatch are all brilliant, rounding off a superb ensemble. 

Scofield is an everyman - scared, scarred, but despite going through unimaginable pain has not lost his humanity and knows the importance of not ever giving up when there is a job to do. He is a man of his word. As we travel with the character through hell it is impossible not to feel emotionally tied to his story which is a mixture of tragic, triumphal, poetic and reverent. In the end the film’s power comes in its depiction of the staggering amount of suffering the human spirit can endure and not only endure, but manage to keep principles and most importantly, hope, intact. The character of Scofield was based on experiences of Mendez's own grandfather and ultimately the sense of the director's responsibility to honor the role he played is keenly perceptible throughout the film. Perhaps 1917’s greatest triumph is that it does justice to not only that story, but to the countless other true stories of self-sacrifice and heroism that permeated that unfathomably bloody conflict.