Straddling between 2019 and 2020, here comes the most recent 'big movie' that makes a splash through unique direction, standout visuals, and a simply but brutally effective premise. It's a tale of two soldiers, in the middle of the hellhole of grinding conflict that was the First World War, who have to deliver a message--but with miles of No Man's Land, enemy forces, war-blasted countryside, and potential danger under every patch of ground, everything becomes as complicated as you might imagine.
The other big selling point? Director Sam Mendes takes on a certain challenge, one only attempted by rarities like Russian Ark--to take the film in one continuous take, or at least create the effect of doing so. Russian Ark pulled the trick off legitimately, but that had an enclosed museum environment--far less complex than the chaotic battlefields and hundreds of soldier extras here. So, just to get it out of the way, does it work? Well, you can see the seams, as well as one major cutoff point--but for the technical complexity involved here, even a single take of ten minutes is absolutely incredible when you consider it.
And that's what sells this film--all the effort to creating a bona-fide looking environment. The two leads, George McKay and Dean-Charles Chapman, of course do their best, but it's the setting of the war itself that feels like the main star. My favorite part comes near the beginning, in a tense worldless sequence of the two sneaking over the shell-blasted wastes between trenches--the attention to detail is exquisite, and there's so many things you need multiple viewings to spot, like the bodies embedded in the side of craters, or the rats sneaking by. You really get immersed around this point, and there's lots of nice touches of visceral visual storytelling, be it the remains of dead horses or hands caught in loosened barbed wire.
The rest of the film is still great, though it doesn't really reach that same level for me to the end--there's one or two somewhat contrived scenes, and the geography feels slightly loose, but then when the camera is running along through a burning war-torn French village, you probably won't notice as much. There's also still some secondary characters who crop up momentarily to shine, like an officer played by Mark Strong, or just a group of Tommies trying to make their journey into the meat grinder a little bearable through their in-jokes.
All in all, 1917 is definitely an accomplishment on par with war classics like Dunkirk and Saving Private Ryan--not entirely perfect, but the determination of the filmmakers shines through enough to make the occasional crack in the proceedings inconsequential. See it, and on the best possible screen if you can--it's one that rewards a keen eye.
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