First World War film '1917' is a stunning cinematic masterpiece

By Tom Siebert

The brilliant new movie “1917” is seemingly and seamlessly filmed in one continuous shot, capturing the chaos of World War I in two harrowing hours, with no respite from reality and not even a moment to mourn the mounting dead.

All is anything but quiet on the Western Front in Northern France when too-young British lance corporals Will Schofield (George McKay) and Tom Blake (Dean-Charles Chapman) are tasked with the perilous mission of hand-delivering retreat orders to the 2nd Battalion of the Devonshire Regiment, lest 1,600 soldiers including Tom’s brother are massacred in a counterattack by the German army.

Thus begins director Sam Mendes’ shell-shocking drama that accompanies Will and Tom as they painstakingly traverse a hellscape of mortar, machine guns, barbed wire, bloody waters, and bloated bodies––testing them physically, psychically, and spiritually.

Based partially on the stories told to Mr. Mendes by his grandfather Alfred, who fought in the so-called Great War, “1917” is precisely choreographed with slow- and fast-moving cameras that immerse the viewer into the battlefield action as well as the ever-changing emotions of the main characters.

It is a cinematic feat that will be taught by film professors who were once wowed by Orson Welles’ opening tracking shot in 1958’s “Touch of Evil” and Alfred Hitchcock’s 1948 thriller “Rope,” with its smoothly rolling cameras that appeared to present the narrative in real time.

But “1917” is much more than digital trickery and technical gimmickry by famed cinematographer Roger Deakins. It is also a colossal engineering and architectural accomplishment.

The pre-production crew dug a mile of deep trenches through the Scottish plains and erected more than 150 3D models of war-ravaged sets.

During filming the characters’ movements and sparse dialogue had to be perfectly synchronized with each “scene.”

And everyone had to deal with the moods of the sun, since the film could be shot solely under the gray skies that prevailed during the actual day of the wartime event, April 6, 1917.

During their race-with-time rescue operation, wide-eyed Will tells his comrade Tom: “We need to keep moving!” And so does this relentless shark-like movie, which has been nominated for 10 Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Original Screenplay.

In one particularly stunning sequence, lance corporals Schofield and Blake search for occupying German soldiers in the bombed-out rubble of a town that is literally lit up by the white glare of phosphorous flares.

This primitive technology is evidenced throughout “1917.” For instance, the airplane was not invented until 1903, but fourteen years later it had become a crude weapon of war, as depicted by a dizzying dogfight between British and German planes.

Moreover, the heartrending scene of a soldier bleeding to death was sadly typical in the First World War, long before the introduction of MASH units in the U.S-Korean conflict and medical helicopters during America’s decade-long military involvement in Vietnam.

And aside from the cynical banter of an animated bunch of British soldiers riding in the back of a transport truck, there is virtually no discussion in this otherwise ambitious film about what started the cataclysmic war, which took the lives of more than 20 million people.

For the historical record, on June 28, 1914, a Serbian nationalist assassinated the presumptive leader of Austria-Hungary, which then attacked Serbia.

Russia and its interlocking allies France, Italy, and Great Britain were then drawn into the war against Central Powers Austria-Hungary, Germany, Bulgaria, and the Ottoman Empire.

Better communications between the countries may have prevented the First World War, just as improved field telephones would have negated the need for the miles-long foot mission of Messrs. Schofield and Blake to the front lines.

And when the stand-down message is finally conveyed to Colonel Mackenzie (Benedict Cumberbatch), the commanding officer laments, “I hoped today might be a good day. Hope is a dangerous thing.”

That may be true, but we must all hope and pray there will never be a World War III. Because with nine countries now possessing nuclear weapons, there would not likely be anyone left on earth to make a movie about it.